This tutorial walks through the steps to automate the installation of SSL certificates on a Linux server using GeoTrust AutoInstall SSL. This is part of the GeoTrust Horizon platform.
Technical Requirements
GeoTrust AutoInstall SSL requires that you have root/admin access (typically this is via SSH) to your server. A couple of important notes worth calling out:
- GeoTrust AutoInstall SSL for Linux is not compatible with shared hosting environments (typically accessed via control panels such as cPanel or Plesk) or website editors (such as Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, etc.)
- AutoInstall SSL is compatible with almost any dedicated or VPS hosting where you have root/admin level access to the server. (Including cloud servers like AWS EC2, Azure VMs, etc.)
AutoInstall SSL has been tested on and is compatible with the following Linux distributions:
- Ubuntu
- Debian
- CentOS Stream
- Rocky Linux
- AlmaLinux
- Amazon Linux 2
What AutoInstall SSL Does
AutoInstall SSL can automate SSL certificate installation in the following web servers:
- Apache 2+
- NGINX
Installation Instructions
Follow these steps to install an SSL certificate on your server and have it automatically managed by AutoInstall SSL:
- After purchasing an SSL certificate, you are taken to a Next Steps page. Click Generate Certificate to start. (Note: AutoInstall SSL currently supports domain validation [DV] single-domain and wildcard SSL certificates.)
- Choose or enter your domain name. You don’t need to include www. at this point (it can be added later).
- Choose the Automatic Installation option.
- Choose a your Linux environment and install the internal agent using the command provided.
- To install the agent connect to your server using SSH. You’ll need to connect as root or a user with sudo privileges (admin level user).
- Copy the command provided into your SSH terminal and press enter.
- Once complete, the AutoInstall SSL agent will be installed on your server. It can be used to install one or more SSL certificates.
- Once the agent is installed, choose the validation method that best suits your setup (e.g., file-based or DNS-based validation).
- Choose to protect yourdomain.com only, or to protect both yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com.
- If you are validating your certificate using DNS and choose to protect the www.domain.com version of your domain, be sure you have DNS records set up for the www. subdomain.
- Using the SSH connection you established to your server earlier, copy the provided install certificate command into your SSH client and press Enter.
- Review the settings, type y, and press Enter on your keyboard to confirm. AutoInstall SSL will now complete the entire SSL certificate installation process (for file validation — that is: generate CSR, submit to CA, download validation file, place validation file at correct location, wait for validation, download certificate, install certificate, and restart web server).
- Confirm everything was successfully completed.
- You’re done! AutoInstall SSL will keep your certificate up to date so it never expires.
Final Takeaways
- AutoInstall SSL will automatically setup a cron job and check your SSL certificate every day. If it needs to be updated (for example, when the certificate will soon expire), AutoInstall SSL will automatically update your SSL certificate.
- AutoInstall SSL uses file validation by default. This is the simplest method and is recommended for most use cases. You can change it to use DNS validation if needed by following these instructions. (Note: For Wildcard SSL certificates, you must use DNS validation.)