How to install lets encrypt in hostgator hosting?

Hello, I want ot install lets encrypt in my website. The website is hosted in hostgator. I want to install but can not find guide. Please help me.

Thank you

Hostgator implementation of Let’s Encrypt has been relayed internally for further consideration, source: https://twitter.com/HGSupport/status/694292490485133313

Do you have access to SSL settings with your hosting plan? You could generate the certs locally in manual mode (‘certonly’).

Hello

Below is the reply received from hostgator support. I am not sure how to proceed with that. Can you help?

I request you to provide the free SSL certificate that you have received from letsencrypt.org along with the CA bundle and RSA key. The RSA key you have received along with the certificate singing request(CSR) will match only if you have used the same CSR for certificate generation.

In order to proceed with the installation of Third party SSL you need to provide us the RSA key. Please note that for security reasons, we can no longer accept the SSL's RSA key in plain text via an email or ticket response because RSA key is sensitive information. Instead, please save the RSA key in a TXT file and upload that file to your hosting account's HOME directory (the directory that your public_html folder is in). This can either be done by means of FTP, or using the File Manager within your account's cPanel.

So.. how to get the file from letsencrypt?
Thanks

Is this even possible? I want to use LetsEncrypt for my multiple HostGator sites

It’s not going to be automatic in this case. You will need to generate the private key and CSR yourself on your own computer, manually complete a domain verification step, and then send the files you created to Hostgator along with the certificate.

You can do this using a service like https://www.gethttpsforfree.com/ (which uses Let’s Encrypt). As the site says, it is intended for people who are already somewhat familiar with the process of obtaining a certificate using another certificate authority. You will need to get OpenSSL on your own computer (which you probably already have if you’re running Linux or Mac OS X, and probably don’t if you’re running Windows), and then run various command-line OpenSSL commands as directed by the gethttpsforfree site.

Since the certificate will expire in 90 days, you’ll also need to be prepared to repeat this process every 90 days (or a little less) in order to get a replacement certificate.

If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you’re probably better off switching to a different hosting provider that has more automated Let’s Encrypt support, or waiting for Hostgator to provide its own Let’s Encrypt integration tools in the future.

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You can try the In-Browser client I have just released at https://ZeroSSL.com

You will not need any deep technical knowledge but you will need to have your domain ownership verified by either putting a text file on your site or adding a specific DNS record for your domain. The Certificate Wizard will have an explanation shown of what to do in both cases.

If something in the process is not clear - let me know, I would appreciate some feedback. I have tried to make it as easy to understand as possible :slight_smile:

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Ok, I have generated RSA key and uploaded it to server. Now, hostgator wants more:

The SSL certificate and CA bundle is required to do the installation. For this you need to contact letsencrypt along with the certificate signing request(CSR), so that they can generate related certificate for you.

Once you get the certificate please provide to us, so that we can install the certificate.

How to follow using ZeroSSL ?

I am not entirely sure about which key (Let’s Encrypt key or the key for your CSR/certificate) you are talking about and where exactly you “uploaded” it, but I’ll try to briefly answer the question anyway :slight_smile:

On the index page of ZeroSSL.com you should see the SSL Certificate Wizard section with 2 buttons - one starts the wizard, another (“Learn More”) displays a help page, which describes what that is and how to use it. Basically you have just 3 steps/screens - 1. Entering details, 2. Verification (where you don’t have to enter anything at all), and 3. Certificate (where your certificate is displayed for you to download/copy it).

If you have Let’s Encrypt key already, you can use it. Alternatively you can either create a 2048/4096 bits key with openssl or whatever you prefer and use it or let the page create one for you (4096 bits). If you don’t have a CSR, it will be created for you too - you will just need to list the domains you want that certificate for in the “Domains” field (you can list multiple domains, separated by either whitespaces or commas).

Verification will require from you to be able to either put a text file on the server or create a TXT record in DNS.

After that, if you did everything correctly, you’ll get your certificate (which will include issuer’s cert). If you didn’t have the CSR and it was created for you, you will also see appropriate key below the certificate - you WILL NEED it too, so download/copy (I suspect that is the key hotgator support meant in their initial reply, but I can’t read their minds, so …).

P.S. Please make sure that hostgator actually can install a custom SSL certificate for you on that hosting plan which you have with them. I’ve never used their hosting but from the help pages there it seems that on shared hosting you may have to use their shared SSL cert (as a subdomain of hostgator.com)

Letsencrypt finally works for my cheap hostgator shared hosting. They installed it manually. The problem will be renewal fee.

Hostgator support said:

you will need to provide the details every 90 days for us to install the ssl on the account. Also, the price will be $10 every time you have us install this for you. iIf you have any further questions or concerns, please let us know.

Wow … Honestly, I’d consider heading to https://lowendbox.com to get a cheap VPS after that. At least you could do anything you like on it, including changing the cert. Would have worked out cheaper too.

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http://support.hostgator.com/articles/how-do-i-use-the-third-party-ssl-certificate-i-purchased

These are the steps explained.

Hello Everyone,
I am getting my website developed by a local developer in Woocommerce platform and the website he is getting hosted by Hosgator.in. Moreover, being on a tight budget I asked him to add the SSL certificates by from Letsencrypt.com but he says that he needs a dedicated IP for that which i believe isn’t true. Please tell me if he is right or he just bluffing me to but a dedicated IP.
Thank You

Where do you send the server.csr file to request a cert i have no clue where to send oit and it doesnt say but i got it through lets encrypt??

Hi @vizzy23,

There are lots of different ways to obtain and install certificates, depending on your hosting environment.

If you’re not familiar with system administration, the easiest option is probably to use one of the web-based clients like https://zerossl.com/, which will walk you through the process of getting a certificate inside your browser without the need to install additional software.

If you posted in this thread because you’re using Hostgator, you should be aware that Let’s Encrypt certificates are not the most economical option for Hostgator customers, because although we don’t charge anything for the certificate, Hostgator charges $10 to install it. (Other hosting providers commonly don’t have such a charge.) Since our certificates last for only 90 days, you’ll have to pay Hostgator at least $40 per year with a Let’s Encrypt certificate, which is more than the total cost of obtaining a 1-year or 2-year certificate from a paid certificate authority and then paying Hostgator only once every 1 or 2 years.

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I use hostgator and I recently switched from a shared to a VPS so I can install my own certificates. Any pointers on this process would be great!

Hi @mrgoodfellow,

On a VPS, you should be able to use Certbot. See

It will ask you more about your software environment and give instructions for how to obtain and run Certbot.

I think it’s worth mentioning that HostGator have no intention of implementing LetsEncrypt - they make too much money off Comodo and you only need to look at their Twitter Feed to see this is not going to change.

That does seem like a pretty constant position on their part. However, they’ll probably allow you to use it yourself on a VPS, as other VPS hosts do.

It seems from earlier comments in this thread that they do allow it on a VPS.
My other hosting it was 2 clicks to install LetsEncrypt! HostGator just don’t want to do it.

I’ll admit - I’m pretty disappointed with HG right now - in addition to this moneygrab (yeah I get they are a business) but they decided out of the blue this weekend to add a Caching Plugin to the must-use section of all my wordpress sites. They are not a customer friendly company.

I am beginning to see why a consultant I work with is no longer recommending HG to their clients. It’s a shame - they used to be a great company. It will be interesting to see how they respond when WP makes SSL mandatory as reported later this year.

I moved to a VPS on hostgator and I’m in the process of getting certbot working. I’m not a pro so I’m getting a ton of errors but it seems with root access I should be able to. Right now I’m trying to figure out where I change my virtual hosts file.