SharkServers is happy to announce that free SSL certificates are now available for users of Advanced and Ultimate shared hosting plans. The Free SSL certificate are issued by Let’s Encrypt and are valid for 90 days. Don’t worry about the short time though – they are automatically renewed about 5 days prior to expiry. The best part – you don’t even need to do anything, as that happens automatically.

SSL Certificate benefits your site by establishing a level of trust for your customers. This is especially important when running an e-commerce site, or any other website where a user may be asked to enter their personal data. Having an SSL certificate means that the certificate issuer has verified that the website is what it says it is, and that data being sent to it (or data being received) has not been intercepted or modified.

How to generate Free SSL Certificate for your site

First of all, log in to DirectAdmin control panel, which is usually found at http://yourdomain.com:2222 (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name).

Once you’re in, do the following:

Check if SSL is enabled for the domain by clicking “Domain Setup” and selecting the domain you’re adding the certificate to. Make sure the box named “Secure SSL” is ticked. You would also need to mark the box named “Use a symbolic link from private_html to public_html – allows for same data in http and https”.

When that is done, click “Home”, and then “SSL Certificates”. Then mark the box named “Free & automatic certificate from Let’s Encrypt” and enter your email address in the box provided. Click “Save” and you’re done. Within a couple of minutes the certificate will be ready for use. Easy, isn’t it?

Should you have any questions, please feel free to open a support ticket, and we’ll be happy to assist you with any issues.