How to Issue a Free Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate in DirectAdmin

Let’s Encrypt is a free and automated Certificate Authority that provides SSL certificates to secure your website. DirectAdmin makes it easy to issue and manage Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates for your domains.

Follow the steps below to issue an SSL certificate for your domain in DirectAdmin:

Step 1: Log in to your DirectAdmin Hosting Account

1. Open your web browser and navigate to your DirectAdmin login page. The URL should be something like: example.com:2222 (replace “example.com” with your actual server’s hostname or your own domain name).
2. Enter your DirectAdmin username and password to log in to the control panel.

Step 2: Access the SSL Certificates section

1. Once logged in, find and click on the “SSL Certificates” icon under the “Account Manager” section.

Step 3: Request the Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate

1. In the SSL Certificates section, click on the “Free & automatic certificate from Let’s Encrypt” button.
2. Select the domain for which you want to issue the SSL certificate from the dropdown menu.
3. Choose whether you want to include any other subdomains in the certificate. This option will then secure the main root domain “yourdomain.com” and any of the sub-domains you have selected under the same certificate.
4. Click the “Save” button to request the Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.
5. After a few seconds, the SSL certificate will be issued and installed automatically for your domain. You will also receive a popup on the same page indicating that the Lets Encrypt request was successful.

You will also notice the SSL certificate is valid for a period of 3 months, this is normal as that is the maximum duration Lets Encrypt issues SSL certificates for. DirectAdmin will automatically renew the SSL certificate for you once the period is almost complete.