An SSL certificate encrypts traffic between your visitor and your server. Without a valid one, browsers show a warning that stops most people from continuing, and search engines treat the site as less trustworthy.
What is included
Zylax managed hosting includes an SSL certificate, installed and configured, set to renew automatically. Certificates of this type have short lifetimes by design and renew well before expiry, so under normal conditions you never have to do anything.
Why renewal sometimes fails
Automatic renewal depends on the certificate authority being able to verify that you still control the domain. It fails when:
- The domain expired or its DNS was changed to point elsewhere.
- Nameservers moved to a provider we do not manage without the A record being updated.
- A CAA record on the domain blocks the issuing authority.
- The domain was moved off our hosting but the certificate job was left in place.
In every one of these cases the fix is a DNS or domain matter, not a certificate matter.
Mixed content warnings
A valid certificate but no padlock usually means the page is loading an image, script or stylesheet over plain http. The browser calls this mixed content. It is fixed in the site, not on the server, by correcting the offending URLs. Send us the page address and we will identify which asset is at fault.
When you need a different certificate
The standard certificate covers your domain and www. If you need a wildcard for many subdomains, or an organisation validated certificate for compliance reasons, tell us and we will quote it. Extended validation certificates no longer produce the green bar that people remember, so weigh the cost against what you actually gain.
Checking it yourself
Click the padlock in the browser, view the certificate, and check the issued to name and the expiry date. If you see a warning about a name mismatch, you are probably visiting a subdomain not covered by the certificate.
If your padlock disappears, report it as a ticket. Reply to your email thread or contact [email protected].
