CertSage ACME client (version 1.4.2) - easy webpage interface, optimized for cPanel, no commands to type, root not required

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Introduction

CertSage was designed for people of all ages and experience levels who want an incredibly quick and easy way to acquire Let's Encrypt TLS/SSL certificates. CertSage is especially helpful if you are using a shared hosting plan that does not allow root access, such as GoDaddy or tsoHost shared hosting. It's free, of course!

Changes from Version 1.4.1

  • Tweaked delays and backoffs to reduce timeouts being caused by changes Let's Encrypt recently made to their domain validation processes; it might take a few more seconds now to acquire a certificate

Requirements

PHP 7.0+

Installation

Assuming that your domain name is example.com...

  1. Download certsage.txt.
  2. Upload certsage.txt into the webroot directory of your website (e.g. /public_html) that contains the content that you access when you normally visit http://example.com.
  3. Rename certsage.txt to certsage.php.

A note for those with more advanced configurations:

If you host websites for more than one (sub)domain name, you will need to install a separate copy of certsage.php into the webroot directory of each website (e.g. /public_html/example2.com). In such cases, you'll want to edit line 18 of certsage.php for the websites of those "secondary" (sub)domain names so that "../CertSage" points to where your CertSage data directory actually resides (e.g. "../../CertSage"), which should be inaccessible from the public internet. Note that in a path like "../CertSage", a ".." is referring to the parent directory of the current directory. For example, if certsage.php is in the /public_html directory then "../CertSage" refers to /CertSage since / is the parent directory of /public_html. Each instance of ".." in a path 'walks up' one parent directory from the current directory.

Usage

Assuming that your domain name is example.com...

  1. Visit http://example.com/certsage.php.
  2. Copy your password from your password.txt file located in your CertSage data directory, which by default is located in the parent directory of the directory where you installed CertSage. The CertSage data directory and password.txt file are created automatically by CertSage when you visit the CertSage page in your browser if they don't already exist. Should you wish to change your password, simply replace the contents of password.txt with whatever password you wish to use going forward.
  3. Enter the (sub)domain names in the box, one per line, for which you wish to acquire a certificate (e.g. example.com and www.example.com).
  4. (Optional) To ensure that your CertSage installation is working, push the button to acquire a staging (fake) certificate.
  5. If you are confident that your CertSage installation is working, repeat step 3 above (if necessary) then push the button to acquire a production (real) certificate.
  6. If you use cPanel, push the button to have CertSage install your production certificate into your cPanel. If you don't use cPanel, you'll need to install your production certificate using some other method.
  7. (Optional) To subscribe to receive certificate expiration notifications directly from Let's Encrypt to serve as backup reminders to renew your certificate(s), enter the email address(es) in the box, one per line, that you wish to use, then push the Update Contact Information button. To unsubscribe, leave the email address box empty then push the Update Contact Information button.

To renew your certificate:

Simply revisit http://example.com/certsage.php every 60 days to acquire and install a new production certificate.

WordPress Site Address Update

If your WordPress site starts returning an infinite redirect loop (and thus never loads), follow the instructions in this article to update your site URLs in WordPress:

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