Reclaim Hosting provides free SSL certificates for all users through the Let’s Encrypt (LE) project. Depending on which version of cPanel your server uses, there are two ways you can install the free LE certificates.
Installing an SSL Certificate
Option 1: SSL/TLS Status
If you see the SSL/TLS Status option in the Security section of cPanel, then click that icon to get started.
The interface will list all of your domains with those secured with a Let’s Encrypt certificate with a green circle and pad lock.
If any domain has a red circle and open pad lock, that means it is not currently secured. You can select any for which you want to add a new SSL Certificate and then click Run AutoSSL to get a Let's Encrypt certificate added.
This process can take up to 15 minutes - though it is typically much quicker - and you can leave the page while it's running; it will continue to run and reflect once it completes.
Option 2: SSL/TLS Certificates
If you only see an SSL/TLS Certificates option in the Security section of cPanel, then click that to get started.
On the SSL/TLS Certificates page, you will see several tabs. To Install a new certificate, go the Wizard tab and select the domain(s) for which you want to add a certificate.
The system will validate the domain, and once it is validated you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click Continue.
You'll then click the Let's Encrypt Certificate button to request and install the new certificate.
Domain pointed via A record and not NS
If you are pointing your domain using an A record or IP address and not the Reclaim Hosting Nameservers, you can still install a Free SSL. However, the process is going to be a bit different so you don't receive emails regarding failed certificates.
The system has to validate the domains before a certificate c an be added. So, if you are only pointing the apex domain to us ( i.e. casslefay.com/www.casslefay.com in the example below) using an A record or CNAME record, then all of the subdomains like cpanel.casslefay.com, webmail.casslefay.com, etc. will fail.
In this case you are still going to start in SSL/TLS Status or SSL/TLS Certiciates > Wizard. However, this time, you are going to exclude all subdomains attached to your domain other than www prior to running AutoSSL or clicking Continue in the Wizard.
To Exclude a domain in the AutoSSL view, you are going to check the box next to the domain(s), then scroll to the top and click Exclude # Domains from AutoSSL. Then you can click Run AutoSSL.
The SSL/TLS Certificates > Wizard view is a bit different, and likely simpler because you don't need to choose domains to exclude from SSL.
In this view, there are notes telling you which domains have a certificate installed. If there are subdomains that don't require a certificate, you can leave them as-is and just don't choose to install a certificate for them.
reclaim.hosting Subdomains
If you’re working with a reclaim.hosting subdomain, you’ll want to make sure you’ve added a CAA record to your domain to be able to provision the SSL certificate. You can follow our process to Adding CAA record to your domain.
Forcing HTTPS
Adding a certificate only provides the option to load over SSL, but doesn’t force it on the server. For information on how to setup your site to run exclusively over HTTPS see this guide.
Troubleshooting
The Let's Encrypt HTTP Challenge Failed - This error can occur if the domain you are attempting to install an SSL certificate is not currently hosted with us. Let’s Encrypt attempts to verify domain records by reading a file placed in the root directory of the domain. If the domain is not resolving to our servers this test will fail. If the domain is hosted with us and you are still encountering problems, please contact us for support.