Generating a CSR is the first step you must perform in order to apply for an SSL Certificate.
This can be done from your web server control panel, and requires you to enter the following details about your website and organization:
- Organization Name
- Organizational unit: This describes the type of your organization. For e.g. Sole Proprietorship, Government Department, Public (Listed) Company, Private (Unlisted) Company, etc.
- Country Code
- State or Province
- Locality
- Common Name: This is the domain name that you want to secure using the SSL Certificate. For e.g.
- If you want to secure www.yourdomain.com, you need to enter www.yourdomain.com as the Common Name. If you just enter yourdomain.com as the Common Name, the certificate will only get issued to yourdomain.com.
- For wildcard certificates, enter the Common Name as *.yourdomain.com. This means that the certificate will be issued for all sub-domains of yourdomain.com.
Once you enter these details, you will receive an encoded file – your CSR. This CSR can now be used to submit your SSL Certificate application to the Certificate Authority.
