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|9.4 How to Use a Shared SSL Certificate|
|Websites that contain sensitive information or ask for credit card information should do so using SSL (secure socket layer). This ensures that data transmitted between the web server (Netfirms) and the web browser is encrypted and secure. Typically a secure connection is confirmed by a padlock icon tha appears in the web browser window.|
- In place of your regular web address (http://www.yourdomain.com) use the SSL address: https://username.sslpowered.com/ or https://yourdomain.com.sslpowered.com/
- Verify that this is working by ensuring the padlock icon is displayed in the web browser when accessing your website through the address above.
|Notes: A shared SSL certificate provides only basic encryption and does not contain your domain name. If you wish to secure your domain name, e.g. https://secure.yourdomain.com you can do so using a dedicated SSL certificate (see section 9.4).|
|9.5 How to Use a Dedicated (Third Party) SSL Certificate|
|Using a third party SSL certificate with Netfirms is easy and allows you to conduct online transactions securely through your own domain name, e.g. https://secure.yourdomain.com. Typically a secure connection is confirmed by a padlock icon that appears in the web browser window.|
Requirements: Before you proceed with the following steps you must create a subdomain name (e.g. secure.yourdomain.com) and attach a dedicated IP address to the subdomain. See section 2.6 and 9.6 for more info.
- Click the Site Tools menu tab.
- Under the Advanced category click the SSL Certificate icon.
- Click the Edit button.
- Enter your company details into the text fields provided. Ensure this information is accurate as you will be submitting it to your certificate provider in a later step.
- Click the Generate button to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
- At this point you have generated the CSR text required to purchase an SSL certificate from a third party vendor (copy and paste the CSR text into their order form).
Netfirms recommends InstantSSL - http://www.instantssl.com
- Upon purchasing an SSL certificate from a third party vendor you will be provided with a .CRT (Certificate) text file which looks similar to the CSR text you created earlier.
Copy the CRT text exactly as it appears into the blank CRT text field in the Netfirms SSL Certificate manager. The CST and the CRT create a matching pair.
- Click the Submit button to complete the process.
|Caution: Do no delete your CSR text once you have submitted it to the certificate provider. The CSR text is a unique dataset that is matched against the certificate.||