NameCheap SSL Certificates

Namecheap is as the name suggests; a cheap place to get stuff. Their SSL certificates cost 1/5 of what they cost at Godaddy and are pretty much just as good. There are some odd bugs with the namecheap site. Below are the steps you need to successfully create and deploy an SSL certificate from NameCheap.

1.) Creare a csr file

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout mysite.key -out mysite.csr

2.) Go to https://ap.www.namecheap.com/

3.) Upload csr file to namecheap site. This will let you get a validation file.

4.) add the validation file to the root website folder: /.well-known/pki-validation/

This automatcially validates with: http://mysite.com/.well-known/pki-validation/AEF34B001667BF75FD31F090F99754C0.txt

If it fails to validate contact support and they can force it.

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9464/69/can-i-download-an-issued-certificate-on-your-site

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9593/33/installing-an-ssl-certificate-on-amazon-web-services-aws/

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/10314/33/ssl-certificate-installation-on-apache2-debian-ubuntu/

5.) At this point you should be ready to add the generated SSL certificate the the server. Download the package.

6.) Add the dowloaded files to your /etc/apache/ssl folder.

7.) Add the config file to your vhost file. It should look something like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName stuff.mysite.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/stuff/public
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName stuff.mysite.com
    DocumentRoot var/www/stuff/public
	<Directory var/www/stuff/public>
            Options FollowSymLinks
            AllowOverride All
            DirectoryIndex index.php
     </Directory>

	Include /etc/apache2/ssl/mysite_2021/namecheap-ssl-apache.conf
            
</VirtualHost>

8.) Restart the server with sudo service apache2 restart and you should be good.