Menu
picture of tbs certificates
picture of tbs certificates
Certificates
Our products range
Partners
Support
Focus


Import a certificate on Plesk 12

Prepare the PEM importation

  • The private key (if your CSR has not been created on your PLESK)
    Retrieve your xxx.pkey (or xxx.key) private key file.
    This private key file has been created along with the CSR. In case of an automatic reissuance / renewal the original file can be reused.
    If this file has been created by our tool Keybot, it has been password-protected (the content of this file begins with "---BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY---"). The file has to be decipher first using your browser here.
    You can give an explicit name to this new file such as "2022-key-www.domain.com.key".

  • Your certificate
    On your certificate status page (you'll find it in your delivery e-mails):
    click the"See the certificate"
    and download your certificate in x509 format using the link"cert-xxx-xxx.cer".
    You can give a new name to this file and provide a new extension such as "2022-cert-www.domain.com.crt".

  • The certification chain
    On your certificate status page (you'll find it in your delivery e-mails):
    click the"See the certificate" button and the"See the certification chain" one
    and download the file using the link"chain-xxx-xxx.txt".
    You can give a new name to this file and provide a new extension such as "2022-chain-www.domain.com.crt".

  • The certificate and the certification chain (PEM format)
    On your certificate status page (you'll find it in your delivery e-mails):
    click the"See the certificate" button and the"See the certificate and the certification chain in X509 format"
    and download the file using the link"pem-xxx-xxx.pem".
    You can give this file a new name such as "2022-pem-www.domain.com.txt".

    N.B.: In case of a full PEM format (including the private key) you'll only have to copy / paste your deciphered private key at the top of your PEM file via a text editor (see above).
    (---Begin Private key---- ... ----End Private Key----).

Import the certificate

  • Login to the Plesk Control Panel as an administrator. Then go the Websites & Domains tab and click on Secure \ Your Sites.
    Websites & Domains tab

  • You can consult here your certificates list. Click on Add SSL Certificate.

  • Name your certificate then go to Upload the certificate files to upload files or to Upload the certificate as Text to enter information in text fields. Then click on Send Files or Send Text according to your previous choice.
  • You will then be redirected to your certificates list that now should include your imported certificate.

Bind your certificate to your site

  • Go back to the Website & Domains tab.
    Websites & Domains tab
  • Click on Hosting Settings.
  • Then go down to the Security section and check the SSL Support case. Then select your certificate in the dropdown list.
    Enabling
                                                           SSL Support

Known issues

Error while adding your certificate to your site (or dureing the creation of a (sub)domain)

If you get the error:

Error: WebServerManager::addVhost() failed: websrvmng failed: A
  specified logon session does not exist. It may already have been
  terminated. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070520) In
  Microsoft.Web.Administration module Exception type:
  System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException at
  Microsoft.Web.Administration.Interop.IAppHostMethodInstance.Execute() at
  Microsoft.Web.Administration.Binding.AddSslCertificate(Byte[]
  certificateHash, String certificateStoreName) at
  Microsoft.Web.Administration.BindingManager.BindingTransaction.Commit() at
  Microsoft.Web.Administration.BindingManager.Save() at
  Microsoft.Web.Administration.ServerManager.CommitChanges() at
  ServerManagerFactory.commit() at
  IIS7ServerManager.commit(IIS7ServerManager* ) 

Your certification chain probably contains your certificate. You'll then have to upload your certificate and your certification chain again and make sure your certification chain doesn't contain your certificate.

You can also encounter this error (less probable) if you use Plesk under windows anf if the IIS bindings have not been correctly updated and do not include your certificate. You can check that with our documentation Install a certificate under IIS.

Here is a link to Plesk knowledge center explaining this issue.

Mandatory SNI

Even if it is not really a problem, the obligation to have SNI-compatible client can cause issues if you need to maintain a compatibility with older platforms. To activate compatibility with these browsers you can either disable SNI in Plesk or add a recourse Binding in IIS manual configuration.