Free SSL Certificates
If you are in need of an SSL certificate, chances are you’re wondering if you can get one for free. After all, why pay for it if a free one is available? While it is possible to get a free SSL certificate, it comes with significant limitations.
There are essentially 2 ways to get a free SSL certificate. The first way is to use a trial certificate and the second is to generate it yourself.Most SSL certificate providers will allow you to create a free SSL certificate. It will only be valid for a short time like 2 weeks. But if you are just want to test something or learn the process, it’s a great way to get a free SSL certificate.
If you want something that will last longer, then you can easily generate SSL certificates that you sign yourself. This means that it is not signed by a recognized Certificate Authority and therefore will not be trusted by default. If you need a refresher on SSL certificates and CA authorities, please take a look at my 3 part series What is an SSL Certificate.
If you use a self-signed certificate, Web browsers will show a scary message to the user indicating that your site shouldn’t be trusted. If you are using the certificate within your organization only, then it may be OK. But if you plan to use it for people who can reach you from around the world, then it is not a good idea to use a free SSL certificate. I’m afraid you’ll have to just buy an SSL certificate from a reputable vendor.
If you are still interested in generating a free self-signed SSL certificate, then the easiest way is generally to use an open source tool called OpenSSL. After you’ve installed OpenSSL, you can execute the following series of commands in order to generate the certificate.
First you need to generate a private key:
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024
This will place the private key into the file server.key. You will be prompted to enter a passphrase in order to protect the key. The key size used in this example is 1024 bits. You can use larger values for more security.
Next, you need to generate a certificate signing request (CSR):
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
This will ask you to enter a bunch of information and will output the request into server.csr.
Finally, you can now generate the self-signed certificate:
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt
This will create a certificate that is valid for 365 days, using the CSR from server.csr and the private key from server.key. The certificate will be output to server.crt. Note that this certificate will NOT include the private key information.
At this point, you now have the self-signed certificate and private key that goes with it. I hope this was helpful.
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