---
title: "nginx and Go Daddy SSL certificates"
date: 2010-07-15
canonical: https://michaelshadle.com/2010/07/15/nginx-and-godaddy-ssl-certificates
---

# nginx and Go Daddy SSL certificates

1.  Generate the CSR:
    
    ```
    openssl genrsa 2048 > yourhost.com.key
    openssl req -new -key yourhost.com.key > yourhost.com.csr
    ```
    

4.  Enter in whatever you want - you NEED the "Common Name" everything else is not really required for it to work.
    
    ```
    Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:US
    State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
    Locality Name (eg, city) []:.
    Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Something Here
    Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:.
    Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:yourhost.com
    Email Address []:.
    
    Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
    to be sent with your certificate request
    A challenge password []:
    An optional company name []:
    ```
    

7.  Paste the CSR into Go Daddy, get back the .crt file

10.  Combine the cert + Go Daddy chain:
     
     ```
     cat yourhost.com.crt gd_bundle.crt > yourhost.com.pem
     ```
     
  
12.  Lastly, in nginx.conf:
     
     ```
     ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/certs/yourhost.com.pem;
     ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/yourhost.com.key;
     ```
     

  

Additionally I have these SSL tweaks which seems to maintain a better SSL experience, passes McAfee Secure's SSL checks, etc.:

```
ssl on;
ssl_protocols SSLv3 TLSv1;
ssl_ciphers ALL:-ADH:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:-LOW:-SSLv2:-EXP;
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
```