# Creating an SSL/TLS certificate signing request

Category: [Certificates](https://dev.cloudvip.com/en/faq/certificates.md)
Source page: [https://dev.cloudvip.com/en/faq/certificates/creating-an-ssl-tls-certificate-signing-request](https://dev.cloudvip.com/en/faq/certificates/creating-an-ssl-tls-certificate-signing-request)

Our plans from Web Classic upwards automatically include a free Let's Encrypt certificate for each domain.

If you require an SSL certificate from another authority for your hosting, or an SSL/TLS certificate for the mail server on your dedicated server or VPS, follow this procedure.

Step 1 - where should the commands be entered?

If you have Advanced hosting or a dedicated server or VPS, run the commands below in the shell (SSH).

If you do not have any of these but use Mac or Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, etc.), run the commands below in your Terminal. (Applications -> Utilities)

If you do not have any of these and use Windows: unfortunately, you will need to install OpenSSL first. (Ask a competent IT professional.)

Step 2 - create a private key

>
openssl genrsa -out [ma-cle-privee.key] 2048

Step 3 - create a certificate signing request

>
openssl req -new -key [ma-cle-privee.key] -out [www.mondomaine.be.csr]

Step 4 - complete the fields

- Country Name (C): use the two-letter country code without punctuation, for example: BE for Belgium.
- State or Province (S): spell out the state or province in full; do not abbreviate its name, for example: Province of Namur.
- Locality or City (L): the Locality field is the name of the town or city, for example: Dinant.
- Organization (O): if your company or department name contains &, @ or any other symbol entered using the Shift key, you must spell out or omit the symbol when registering. For example: XY & Z Corporation would become XYZ Corporation or XY and Z Corporation.
- Organizational Unit (OU): this field is the name of the department or unit responsible for the request.
- Common Name (CN): the common name is the host name + domain name. For example www.mondomaine.be or secure.mondomaine.be
- Optional Fields: when prompted, please do not enter your email address, a challenge password or an optional company name when generating the CSR. 
Press Enter / Return to leave these fields blank.

Step 5 - display the certificate

Enter the following command to display your certificate:

> cat www.mondomaine.be.csr

Copy the text starting from the line

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

through to the line:

-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

and send it to us in a support ticket.  (Include the BEGIN/END lines.)

Warning: your private key (
ma-cle-privee.key
) must remain strictly confidential. Do not send it to us or anyone else unless you use a secure transmission method. (End-to-end encryption or, at minimum, a password-protected folder.)