Need Help Getting New Cert

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1

Hello,

I was blissfully unaware of the difference between http and https until a few days back.
A link to my website that insisted on https generated a warning on Firefox, which led me to Let's Encrypt.

I've been through the Getting Started page and I've read many of the threads on this forum.
I've also contacted my hosting provider.
They are Arvixe.com and unfortunately they not listed under automatic support for Let's Encrypt.
They offer an extra annual fee of $25 for SSL but they informed me they also support Let's Encrypt.

This is what they said, even after I told them that they themselves would need to contact Let's Encrypt. (info. I gathered from the Getting Started page)

"We will help you get the SSL installed manually from the server end. As this is third party SSL provider, All you need to do is contact the Let's encrypt provider and ask them to provide us with the below certificate details:
Certificate file
private key
CA bundle

You can upload this to cPanel> file manager and then contact us. We will get SSL installed for you."

So, is it possible to do what they suggest? Can Let's Encrypt provide me with the certificate for the website below and, if so, how does it work from here?
Many thanks.

My domain is:

http://www.grousemusic.com/

I ran this command: N/A

It produced this output: N/A

My web server is (include version): Apache 2.2.31

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Linux

My hosting provider, if applicable, is: Arvixe.com

I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know): Don't Know

I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel):

cPanel 70.0.69

The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you're using Certbot):

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tl;dr; You can do this, but you have to do it every 90 days. You could try one of the web-based tools like https://www.sslforfree.com.

Longer explanation:

The difficulty with doing this is that Let's Encrypt certificates are only valid for 90 days at a time. You would have to repeat this process at least once every 90 days. That's pretty bad.

Ideally you could be using a different web host which provides free and automated SSL, of which there are many. With those hosts, you don't have to do anything, pay anything or email anyone; it just works forever.

If you want to stay with your current host, I would recommend getting an SSL certificate which lasts at least 1 year. That way, you only have to go through the manual renewal and installation process once per year, rather than 4 times per year. You can find such certificates for $10/year which will cover a domain + the www subdomain.

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That's great az, thanks for the info.
I'll look into the options suggested.

I've only recently renewed with Arvixe so unless it's very laborious, I don't mind renewing every 90 days, at least 'til early next year.
I'm on an old, quite cheap, plan with Arvixe so I don't think I'll find anything cheaper than my current plan.
Everywhere I've looked is more expensive but I'll keep looking.
I don't have much traffic so investing in a website is not a massive priority but I would definitely like to keep it going as long as I can.
Thanks again.

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@griffin Would CertSage also work with non-GoDaddy hosting providers?

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As @Osiris was suggesting, you could just use the CertSage ACME client that I authored specially to help cPanel and other shared hosting users acquire Let's Encrypt certificates quickly and painlessly. While I originally conceived it for GoDaddy shared hosting users, I wrote it to not be GoDaddy specific, so it should work on any cPanel hosting that supports PHP. It takes under 5 minutes to get your certificate with no command line work required. It's free, of course.

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That sounds good to me, griffin, thanks for posting. How would I go about acquiring such a thing? :slightly_smiling_face:

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