Creating a CSR (Certificate Signing Request)

A CSR or Certificate Signing Request is an encrypted identifier that is necessary in order to have a functioning SSL Certificate.

First, let's take a look at the information that a CSR contains. To generate one, you will need to have all of this information handy.

 

Information in a CSR

Information	Explanation	Example
Common Name	The Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the site where you want to use your SSL Certificate.	yourcoolsite.com
Organization	The legal name of your organization. This should include Inc, Corp, or LLC, if applicable.	Awesome Company, Inc.
Department	The part of your organization that is responsible for managing and ordering the certificate.	IT Security Department
City/Locality	Your organization's location.	Perth
State/County/Region	Your organization's state or region. This should NOT be abbreviated.	Western Australia
Country	The two-letter ISO code for the country where you are located.	AU
Email address	An email contact for your organization.	[email protected]
Public Key	The public key, used to encrypt the session key.	These are created automatically and do not require any information input.

 

How To Create a CSR

If you are applying for an SSL certificate that you want to use with a domain that is hosted with Crazy Domains, we will generate and submit the CSR for you. Choose your server type below for more information on creating a CSR if you are getting an SSL Certificate for a domain hosted with another company.

 

Microsoft IIS

• Create a CSR on a Microsoft IIS 8 server
• Create a CSR on a Microsoft IIS 7 server
• Create a CSR on a Microsoft IIS 5/6 server
• Create a CSR on a Microsoft IIS 4 server

 

Microsoft Exchange

• Create a CSR for Exchange 2013
• Create a CSR for Exchange 2010
• Create a CSR for Exchange 2007

 

Apache Server (OpenSSL)

• Create a CSR for OpenSSL

 

Tomcat Server

• Create a CSR with Keytool

 

Other

• Create a CSR on WHM/cPanel
• Create a CSR on Plesk

 

How Do I Decode a CSR?

You can decode your CSR to see what is in it by using our CSR Decoder. In order to decode a CSR on your own machine using OpenSSL, use the following command:

openssl req -in server.csr -noout -text