How to Generate a CSR Code in cPanel

Before configuring and issuing your SSL certificate, you must generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) code. If your website is hosted on a cPanel server, you can generate a CSR directly from your hosting control panel in just a few clicks.

This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for generating a CSR in cPanel and submitting it to the BuySSL.lk Client Area.

Prerequisites

• Access to your cPanel hosting account.
• An active domain name pointed to your web hosting account.

Step 1: Access the cPanel SSL/TLS Manager

1. Log in to your cPanel account (e.g.,https://yourdomain.com:2083) or via your web host's client portal
2. Scroll down to the Security section and click on SSL/TLS.

Step 2: Navigate to CSR Generation

Under the Certificate Signing Requests (CSR) section, click Generate, view, or delete SSL certificate signing requests.

Step 3: Fill Out the CSR Information Form

Complete the required fields with accurate details:

• Key: Select 2,048 bits (Recommended) from the dropdown menu.
• Domains: Enter the exact domain name you want to secure.
  - For Single Domain / OV / EV: Enter example.com (cPanel automatically covers [www.example.com](https://www.example.com)).
  - For Wildcard SSL: Enter an asterisk before the domain, such as *.example.com.
• City: Enter your city (e.g., Colombo).
• State: Enter your province or state (e.g., Western Province).
• Country: Select your country code from the dropdown (e.g., LK - Sri Lanka).
• Company: Enter your officially registered business name (e.g., Example Lanka Pvt Ltd). For personal websites, enter your full name.
• Company Division: Enter your department name (e.g., IT Department) or leave it blank.
• Email: Enter a valid contact email address.

Step 4: Generate and Copy the CSR

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Generate button.
2. cPanel will generate and display your Encoded Certificate Signing Request.
3. Highlight and copy the entire block of text under Encoded Certificate Signing Request, including the top header line -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- and the bottom footer line -----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----.

Step 5: Submit the CSR in BuySSL Client Area

1. Log in to your BuySSL Client Area.
2. Go to Services → My Services and select your active SSL certificate order.
3. Click Configure Certificate.
4. Select your web server type (e.g., cPanel / Apache) and paste the copied CSR code into the designated text box.
5. Select your preferred Domain Validation (DCV) method and submit the configuration.

Pro-Tips & Important Notes:

• Automatic Private Key Storage: When you generate a CSR in cPanel, cPanel automatically generates and securely saves the corresponding Private Key under SSL/TLS → Private Keys (KEY). You do not need to paste the Private Key manually when installing the certificate later in cPanel.
• Copy Full Block: Always ensure you copy the entire CSR output, including the BEGIN and END header tags, without introducing extra spaces or line breaks.