How do I get my Free SSL certificates?

Our free SSL certificates are available for all web site's hosted on a Brownrice SmartVPS. If your site is on a SmartVPS you likely already have the certificate in place as our systems are fully automated. However, if your certificate is not in place these are things you can check:

Make sure your site is on a VPS hosting account.

If your site is on a shared or basic hosting account you will not receive a free SSL certificate.  You can check this by logging into http://dashboard.brownrice.com with your Brownrice billing email address.  If the site is listed under Site & Email Hosting you will not get a free certificate. However, if its under VPSs you will!  If you'd like to upgrade from a basic hosting account to a SmartVPS the cost is just an additional $1 per month.  Send us an email to support@brownrice.com and we'll upgrade you ASAP.

Make sure your site is LIVE and pointing to your VPS IP.

Once your site is live and DNS is pointed to our servers our automated SSL install scripts will attempt to issue your certificate within 20 minutes.

My site is live, on a SmartVPS but I still don't have an SSL certificate? What do I do now?

Wait an hour.  If you still don't see the certificate check to ensure your VPS operating system is at least CentOS 6. You can check this by logging into http://dashboard.brownrice.com and clicking VPSs.  Scroll down to your VPS and note the OS Version.  If yours is CentOS 5 send us an email at support@brownrice.com and we can quickly upgrade your operating system for you at no charge. 

How many free certificates do I get? And will they work with subdomains?

There are no limits to the number of free certicates you can have.  And yes, they work with subdomains.

Tags: cert, certificate, free, letsencrypt, secure, ssl