What is CSR and who needs it?

A Certificate Signing Request is a text generated on the server that is used to create your SSL Certificate. It contains information which will be included in the certificate such as your organizations name, common name (domain name), location, country, and public key (private key is usually created at the same time that you create the CSR).

A CSR should look similar to the following:

-----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
MIIDGjCCAoMCAQAwgYQxITAfBgNVBAMTGHd3dy50ZXN0Y2VydGl
QoubDqnc7Duih17eR1zmrUuJiwEj8vFk0Us5Ka3XEar4frLNzeW
AAGgggFTMBoGCisGAQQBgjcNAgMxDBYKNS4wLjIxOTUuMjA1Bgo
rBgEEAYI3AgEOMScwJTAOBgNVHQ8BAf8EBAMCBPAwEwYDVR0lBA
wwCgYIKwYBBQUHAwEwgf0GCisGAQQBgjcNAgIxge4wgesCAQEeW
gBNAGkAYwByAG8AcwBvAGYAdAAgAFIAUwBBACAAUwBDAGgAYQBu
AG4AZQBsACAAQwByAHkAcAB0AG8AZwByAGEAcABoAGkAYwAgAFA
AcgBvAHYAaQBkAGUAcgOBiQBfE24DPqBwFplR15/xZDY8Cugoxb
yymtwq/tAPZ6dzPr9Zy30NnkKQbKcsbLR/4t9/tWJIMmrFhZonr
x12qBfICoiKUXreSK89OILrLEto1frm/dycoXHhStSsZdm25vsz
v827FKKk5bRW/vIIeBqfKnEPJHOnoiG6UScvgA8QfgAAAAAAAAA
AMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAA4GBAGsHA9fKzGdjfJRZoe07MNFqRb
mwwX+M+EXpzS+78Wr6D7HUPk3g6ixkEcC3cLER5Rt5VMu9vjlmO
IkJAzIWuWDj1Z4BpVeI33loaGS3PmLSnCt1lULaRalQNHk1vOc+
L0ygNwwNIvKLMPq4/LcUkZ9Oo4AssXW5mvvhHWGz2RWY
-----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

The Certificate Signing Request (CSR) begins with the line
"----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- " and ends with the line "-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----".

Here you can use our CSR generator on-line. (Best practice recomends you should always generate your CSR and private key on your own server). 

Note: IIS server's require a CSR be generated directly on the server.

For instructions on how to generate CSR on a different server types click here.
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