• What is AutoSSL?
• AutoSSL Overview
• How to enable AutoSSL in WHM
• How to manage AutoSSL certificate in cPanel
• AutoSSL management via SSH

What is AutoSSL?

AutoSSL is a feature available in WHM on our VPS and Dedicated server plans. It installs free SSL certificates for specific websites hosted in corresponding WHM.

With User-responsible and Basic hosting plans, you can enable AutoSSL for your websites through WHM.

Note: This option is not available on Complete plans, as it doesn't have the root access enabled, which is required to manage the AutoSSL.

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of enabling AutoSSL yourself, you can initiate a chat here, and our SSL team can assist you with the process.

Note: if you have any issues with enabling AutoSSL on a User-responsible hosting plan, an extra fee is required for our support team to check the issue.

AutoSSL Overview

The AutoSSL feature can be added to the "Feature list" created in WHM. The Feature list is a list of features that will be added to the user’s cPanel. If AutoSSL was not initially included, it is possible to edit a "Feature list" to add it later. Here is a helpful guide on managing Features in WHM.

Once the AutoSSL feature is added, it can be managed on the "Manage AutoSSL" page in WHM’s SSL/TLS section.

There are several tabs on the "Manage AutoSSL" page.

• Providers - shows the SSL certificate providers alongside their star ratings. You can get more information about each SSL provider by clicking the "Show/Hide Details" button.

Note: In cPanel & WHM version 120, the option to use the Sectigo AutoSSL provider was disabled. All the users, who used Sectigo as their AutoSSL provider, were automatically switched to Let's Encrypt™. For more details, please refer to the official cPanel documentation.

Here you can choose your preferred SSL provider and click "Save" to use an SSL certificate from that specific provider.

• Options - AutoSSL notifications management. Here you can enable or disable AutoSSL notifications for users or administrators regarding the warnings, successful or failed AutoSSL installation.

Note, if you enable the "Allow AutoSSL to replace invalid or expiring non-AutoSSL certificates" option, the AutoSSL certificate will replace any expired, due to expire, or invalid non-AutoSSL certificate already set up for the selected domain or subdomain. If you would like to have some domains with AutoSSL certificate and some domains without it, please make sure this option is disabled.

• Logs - here you can review the system’s AutoSSL log files. You can get more information about a specific log by selecting it from the list and clicking the "View Log" button.
• Manage Users - here you can manage the AutoSSL settings for every cPanel account: enabling, disabling, or resetting an AutoSSL certificate. To check a domain for a specific user, you can click the "Check" button.
• Pending Queue - shows a list of the SSL certificates that have been activated but not installed.

How to enable AutoSSL in WHM

To enable the AutoSSL feature for specific websites, follow the steps below:

• Go to the WHM panel, open the "SSL/TLS" section and click "Manage AutoSSL".
• Click the "Run AutoSSL For All Users" button to enable the SSL certificates for all the domains and subdomains in this WHM panel and its cPanel accounts.

OR

• To enable or disable AutoSSL for a specific user, go to the "Manage Users" tab.
• Choose the corresponding option:

1. "Enable AutoSSL" - to enable AutoSSL for a specific user.
2. "Disable AutoSSL" - to disable AutoSSL for a specific user.
3. "Reset to Feature List Setting" - to enable the default AutoSSL settings that were specified during the Feature list creation.

You can also enable AutoSSL for several specific users. To choose the exact users, just tick their names in the list. Then, you can use the buttons above the user list to enable, disable or reset to the default settings.

If there are issues with the AutoSSL setup, you can check the issue on the "Logs" tab by choosing the specific log and clicking "view log".

How to manage AutoSSL certificate in cPanel

If the "Allow AutoSSL to replace invalid or expiring non-AutoSSL certificates" option is enabled in WHM, the SSL certificate will be installed in cPanel automatically.

If this option is disabled, the added SSL certificate should be installed manually by following the simple steps below:

• Go to the "SSL/TLS Status" section in cPanel.

There you will see a list of all the domains and subdomains in cPanel along with their SSL certificates.

• If an SSL certificate was not installed for any of the required domains, you can select the domains in the list and click "Run AutoSSL" to force AutoSSL installation for them.

OR

• Another option to enable a certificate is to install it manually via the "SSL/TLS" section:

1. Go to the "SSL/TLS" section in the cPanel account and choose "Certificates (CRT)". There you will see a list of the SSL certificates that were added to cPanel.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Choose the required certificate and click "Install". After that, you will be taken to the certificate installation page.
   
   
   
   
3. Scroll down and click "Install certificate" to proceed with its installation.
   
   
   

To check the installed SSL certificates in cPanel, do the following:

• Go to the "SSL/TLS" section in cPanel.
• Click "Install and Manage SSL for your site (HTTPS)".
  
  
  
  
• Wait a few seconds to see the list of the domains and subdomains added to cPanel.
• If a green lock symbol appears next to the domain or subdomain, this means the SSL certificate has been installed correctly. You can check more information regarding the SSL by clicking on "Certificate Details". The certificate issuer, domains and subdomains included in this certificate will be listed there.

Use the "Uninstall" option to remove the certificate. This will disable the certificate, but it will still be stored in cPanel.

If you ever need to enable the SSL again, you can install it via the "Certificates (CRT)" part in the "SSL/TLS" section by clicking the "Install" button beside the required certificate.

You can also check if the certificate is installed correctly by using this tool. Simply enter the domain or subdomain into the correspondent field and click "Check".

AutoSSL management via SSH

If you prefer using the command line to manage your server settings, AutoSSL can also be managed through SSH.

To do so, connect to your server via SSH.

Next, run this command to check the AutoSSL status:

/usr/local/cpanel/bin/autossl_check

You can check the AutoSSL status for a specific cPanel account using the " --user" parameter:

/usr/local/cpanel/bin/autossl_check --user=username

To check the SSL certificates for all domains in cPanel, run the following command:

/usr/local/cpanel/bin/autossl_check --all

Once AutoSSL is enabled and SSL installation is completed, the website will be accessible via both the secured https:// and not-secured http:// connection.

If you would like to make the website accessible via https:// only, you can set up an https:// redirect in cPanel by following this guide.