Need SSL certificate to enable https

[#1]

If Bob is hovering around I would appreciate his advice on this as I spoke to several people at PN today and didn't get anywhere with it. Apparently only two members of the tech team know about this and between sickness and holiday absense nobody could assist.

Basically my web developer says I need a certificate number for a SSL connection so that I can receive a few payments via Paypal. I am a long term PN customer and still retain my web hosting allowance from PN and I want to host my small web site with PN.

Anyone have any experience?

Tom

[#2]

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If you need a certificate you should take a look at https://letsencrypt.org

They are a free (as in beer) certificate authority. It works for me. Other certificate authorities are available (although most charge £££).

[#3]

The article here contains the info you're after - https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/ssl-security-guide/
The Homepages servers have a limited SSL offering. The CGI platform doesn't support it at all.
You'll not be able to install a letsencrypt cert on either of the hosting environments.

[#4]

Hi Bob,  many thaks for taking this up. Yes, I did read those pages earlier and it goes some of the way to explaining but does not mention CGI or any limitations.

What I want to know is....

What do I have to do to get Plusnet to issue the certificate as nobody I spoke to knew anything about it.

As one of the old account holders, I presume it is still part of the package I originally signed up for.

What are the limitations?

Can it handle a website prepared in Wordpress?

I am not looking for massive SSL capability - just a  link to Paypal.

What special instructions does my web developer need to have to fit in with PN's requirements.

Looking forward to your advice.

Thanks

[#5]

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@Tomdhu wrote:

Yes, I did read those pages earlier and it goes some of the way to explaining but does not mention CGI or any limitations.

There is no SSL support on the CGI platform. From the page in question:

This won't work with:
hosted domains
https://www.username.plus.com/
CGI webspace (CGI platforms don't support SSL)

What I want to know is....

What do I have to do to get Plusnet to issue the certificate...

The certificate is already issued, it's a wildcard cert for *.plus.net as can be seen below. It can only be used on the Homepages platform (ftp.plus.net) and is accessed using the address https://homepages.plus.net e.g. if you have a page called ssl.html and you wanted to access it via SSL, you would need to upload it to the 'htdocs' directory at ftp.plus.net and would then access it via a web browser at https://homepages.plus.net/<username>/ssl.html

What are the limitations?

Without knowing a little more about what you're trying to achieve, I can't say whether or not it will be possible. You cannot use your own certs on either platform though, only the wildcard cert issued to Plusnet.

Can it handle a website prepared in Wordpress?

The Homepages platform does not support PHP/CGI applications, so no - you won't be able to serve your entire Wordpress blog over SSL/TLS. Anything you do want served over SSL would have to be uploaded to the Homepages platform and then referenced from your CGI space. If you do this though, you need to be mindful that a browser will complain if any of your pages are served using a combination of HTTP and HTTPS.

What special instructions does my web developer need to have to fit in with PN's requirements.

The Homepages platform is accessed at the FTP address ftp.plus.net, using your Member Centre username and password to log in. Publically accessible content needs uploading to the htdocs directory. As mentioned above, Wordpress cannot be installed on Homepages.

Hope that helps, even if it might not be the answers you were hoping for.

[#6]

Hi Bob,

I'm going to read your response several times so that I get my head round it properly but to explain further, all I need the SSL/Https for is to take the very occasional payment thro' PayPal.

[#7]

Do PayPal give any information on how to use their services when connecting from an HTTP website?

[#8]

@spraxyt - Is this any use to you?

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/

[#9]

@Anonymous Thanks, though the OP is best placed to make that decision.

[#10]

Fair enough, you were the one asking the question so I directed my reply to you!

[#11]

 I need a certificate number for a SSL connection so that I can receive a few payments via Paypal.

Not so. It depends on which PayPal interface you use.

If you use the HTML one - where PayPal manages all the security, your site does not need a certificate. Google for 'HTML Variables for PayPal Payments Standard'

If your site takes credit/debit card details itself, then you do.