ConsulHosting

How to Install a Free SSL Certificate in DirectAdmin

Published on July 23, 2026

An SSL certificate encrypts the connection between your website and its visitors. This allows your website to be accessed securely over HTTPS. DirectAdmin lets you easily install a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt. DirectAdmin will then renew the certificate automatically.

Note Make sure your domain and every subdomain you want to secure point to the IP address of your hosting package through their DNS settings. If you recently changed the DNS settings, wait until the changes have fully propagated before requesting the certificate.

Installing a free SSL certificate

  1. Log in to DirectAdmin.
  2. Use the domain selector at the top of the page to make sure the correct domain is selected.
  3. Under Account Manager, open the SSL Certificates page.
  4. Select Get automatic certificate from ACME Provider.
  5. Select Let’s Encrypt under ACME Provider.
  6. Under Certificate Entries, select your domain and its www subdomain if both point to the same hosting package.
  7. Select any additional subdomains you want to secure with the certificate, such as mail and smtp.
  8. Click SAVE and wait for DirectAdmin to confirm that the certificate was requested successfully.
Tip After requesting the certificate, check whether your domain loads over HTTPS in your browser. Does your browser still indicate that the connection is not secure? Cached data may be the cause. Check the website in a private browsing window and/or with an SSL test.

Automatically redirecting your website to HTTPS

Your website may still be accessible over HTTP after installing the certificate. Configure an automatic HTTPS redirect to ensure visitors always use the secure connection.

  1. Under Account Manager, open the Domains page.
  2. Click the domain for which you installed the SSL certificate.
  3. Enable Force SSL with https redirect.
  4. Under Force Redirect, select the domain variant you want to use if necessary:
  • No redirect preserves the domain used by the visitor, with or without www;
  • www.example.com redirects visitors to the domain with www;
  • example.com redirects visitors to the domain without www.
  1. Click Modify to save the changes.

Now open http://example.com. Your browser should automatically redirect you to the HTTPS version of your website.

SSL certificate request fails

If the certificate request fails, check the following:

  1. Did you recently change the DNS settings or register the domain? Wait until the DNS has fully propagated before trying again.
  2. Make sure the domain’s A record points to the IPv4 address of your hosting package.
  3. If the domain has an AAAA record, make sure it points to the correct IPv6 address. An outdated or incorrect AAAA record can cause the request to fail.
  4. Check the DNS settings of every selected subdomain. Remove any subdomains that do not point to the hosting package from the request.

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