Overview
To maintain secure data transmission between your website and its visitors, SSL certificates are essential. These certificates authenticate your site’s identity and encrypt information, ensuring privacy and data integrity. Since SSL certificates have a limited lifespan, they must be renewed periodically. We use DNS-based validation to streamline this renewal process and avoid manual intervention. By updating your DNS settings, you can ensure the automatic renewal of your SSL certificates, maintaining continuous security for your site.
Why This Is Necessary
- SSL Certificates: Authenticate your site’s identity and encrypt data sent to the server.
- Renewal Requirement: SSL certificates need periodic renewal to maintain secure communications.
- DNS Configuration for Auto-Renewal: Adding specific DNS entries enables automatic renewal, avoiding downtime and security warnings.
Who Should Be Involved
This task typically requires the assistance of someone who manages your website’s domain settings, such as a Website Domain Manager, DNS Administrator, or IT Administrator.
Steps to Take
- Add DNS Entry:
- _acme-challenge.AnthologyUniversity.edu CNAME AnthologyUniversity.edu.a18f22c30b56ebdc.dcv.cloudflare.com
DNS Configuration Instructions
These instructions are for configuring the DNS settings to enable the auto-renewal of SSL certificates for your primary domain. Please follow these steps to ensure your SSL certificates are renewed seamlessly.
What You Need to Do:
- Primary Domain Configuration:
- You only need to set the DNS for the primary domain.
- If you are using multiple primary domains, you will need to apply the DNS settings for each of these primary domains.
- No Need for Subdomains:
- You do not need to apply these DNS settings to any subdomains (e.g., alumni.anthology.edu, giving.anthology.edu). The settings only need to be applied to the primary domain and this will cover all you subdomains in use.
Example:
Primary Domain: anthology.edu
Even if your site uses subdomains like alumni.anthology.edu or giving.anthology.edu, you should only configure the DNS for the primary domain, anthology.edu.
Example DNS Entry to Add:
- _acme-challenge.anthology.edu CNAME anthology.edu.a18f22c30b56ebdc.dcv.cloudflare.com
- You will replace this example domain of "anthology.edu" with you own primary domain
Steps:
- Access your DNS management tool (this might be through your domain registrar or hosting provider).
- Add the above CNAME entry for your own primary domain (yourdomain.edu).
Completion Timeline
The maximum expiration date for SSL certificates is 90 days, but some may expire sooner. We recommend completing these updates well before your SSL certificate's expiration to avoid any service interruptions.
Support
If you have any questions or require assistance, our support team is here to help ensure a smooth and successful process for you.
Customer Support:
Phone: 800.483.9106
Hours: 7am-7pm Central, Monday-Thursday | 7am-6pm Central, Friday
Email: customersupport@imodules.com