Importing a Third-Party Certificate

Last change on 2026-10-07 • Created on 2026-10-07 • ID: MA-4761E

You can import certificates from other certification authorities into the konsoleH SSL Manager. You do not need to generate the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) in konsoleH for this. For security reasons, generate the private key on your server or your local computer.

Prerequisites

To import the certificate, you’ll need your konsoleH customer number and password, as well as a domain in your hosting account. If you’re generating the CSR yourself, you’ll need a Linux system with OpenSSL.

Generating the CSR and Private Key

  1. Run this command on your server or local computer.
   
openssl req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout www_example_com.key -out www_example_com.csr
  1. Enter the requested information, such as the domain name.

The private key will then be stored in www_example_com.key, and the CSR in www_example_com.csr. 3. Send only the contents of www_example_com.csr to the certificate authority.

This command generates a 4,096-bit RSA key. In Technical Policy TR-02102-1, the BSI recommends a minimum of 3,000 bits for RSA keys. The -nodes option saves the private key without a password. This is necessary because the SSL Manager does not import encrypted keys.

For more information on generating a CSR, see DigiCert.

Import a Certificate

Note: Once imported, you can no longer modify a certificate. You can only change the intermediate certificates later. Import a certificate only after the CA issues it fully.

To import a certificate, you’ll need the certificate, the private key without a password, all intermediate certificates, and the root certificate—all in PEM format.

  1. Log in to konsoleH using your customer number and password.
  2. Select the domain in the domain overview.
  3. In the left-hand menu, open Services → SSL Manager.
  4. Click New Certificate.
  5. Select Import Certificate.
  6. Paste the certificate into the Certificate Block field.
  7. Paste the private key into the Key Block field.
  8. Paste the intermediate certificates and the root certificate, one below the other, into the CA Blocks field.
  9. Click Import Certificate.

The SSL Manager displays the imported certificate with a green checkmark.

Using the Certificate

If you have not yet set up an SSL account for the domain, set up an [SSL account] (/en/managed/ssl/ssl-accounts) using the imported certificate. If the imported certificate replaces an older certificate in an existing SSL account, activate it by following the instructions in Managing Certificates in the SSL Manager.

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