What is a CSR?

Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

We’ve included links to instructions for generating CSRs on several of today’s most popular web servers. If your server is not listed, please reference your web server’s documentation.

NOTE: When creating your CSR, you’ll be asked to complete a signing request form. For descriptions of each term used in that form, click here.



CSR Fields

You will need to provide several pieces of information when creating your CSR.


Common Name/Domain Name
  • This includes the Fully Qualified Domain Name for your certificate (in other words, the web address where you plan to use your SSL Certificate). You must enter the exact web address where you want to use your SSL certificate. For instance, if you want your certificate to work on secure.example.com, you need to enter secure.example.com into the Common Name field.
    • Examples:
  • www.example.com
  • secure.example.com
  • blog.example.com

  • Wildcard Certificates: If you want to create a Wildcard SSL (which will work on any subdomain), you must input an asterisk (*) in place of the subdomain position. For instance, to create a wildcard SSL Certificate that will secure both www.example.com and secure.example.com, you would input *.example.com into the Common Name field.
    • Examples:
  • *.example.com

Organization

Enter the precise legal name of your organization, without abbreviations. For instance: ABC Corporation or Budget Car Sales LLC.


Organizational Unit

Denotes the division or department of the organization using this SSL Certificate. For example: Marketing, Sales, Customer Service


City or Locality

The city where your organization is officially located, i.e. your physical address. Do not abbreviate. Example: Do not use “LA” in place of “Los Angeles.”


State or Province

The state or province where your organization is officially located, i.e. your physical address. Do not abbreviate. Example: Do not use “WA” in place of “Washington.”


Country (C)

The two-letter ISO Country Code abbreviation for the country where your organization is officially located. Example: US, CA, MX.


Email

Any email address associated with the applicant. This email address will not be used to process your order.


Key Bit Length

A key bit length of at least 1024 is suggested. Extended Validation (EV) certificates require a 2048 key bit length. This bit length reflects only the initial key exchange, not the level of encryption on your SSL Certificate.


ISO Country Codes

Afghanistan AF
Albania AL
Algeria DZ
American Samoa AS
Andorra AD
Angola AO
Anguilla AI
Antarctica AQ
Antigua and Barbuda AQ
Argentina AR
Armenia AM
Aruba AW
Austria AT
Australia AU
Azerbaidjan AZ
Bahamas BS
Bahrain BH
Bangladesh BD
Barbados BB
Belarus BY
Belgium BE
Belize BZ
Benin BJ
Bermuda BM
Bolivia BO
Bosnia-Herzegovina BA
Botswana BW
Bouvet Island BV
Brazil BR
British Indian Ocean Terr IO
Brunei Darussalam BN
Bulgaria BG
Burkina Faso BF
Burundi BI
Buthan BT
Cambodia KH
Cameroon CM
Canada CA
Cape Verde CV
Cayman Islands KY
Central African Republic CF
Chad TD
Chile CL
China CN
Christmas Island CX
Cocos (Keeling) Islands CC
Colombia CO
Comoros KM
Congo CG
Cook Islands CK
Costa Rica CR
Croatia HR
Cyprus CY
Czech Republic CZ
Denmark DK
Djibouti DJ
Dominica DM
Dominican Republic DO
East Timor TP
Ecuador EC
Egypt EG
El Salvador SV
Equatorial Guinea GQ
Estonia EE
Ethiopia ET
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) FK
Faroe Islands FO
Fiji FJ
Finland FI
France FR
French Southern Terr TF
Gabon GA
Gambia GM
Georgia GM
Germany DE
Ghana GH
Gibraltar GI
Greece GR
Greenland GL
Grenada GD
Guadeloupe (French) GP
Guam (US) GT
Guinea Bissau GW
Guinea GN
Guyana (French) GF
Guyana GY
Haiti HT
Heard and McDonald Is HM
Hong Kong HK
Hungary HU
Iceland IS
India IN
Indonesia ID
Ireland IE
Israel IL
Italy IT
Ivory Coast IC
Jamaica JM
Japan JP
Jordan JO
Kazachstan KZ
Kenya KE
Kirgistan KG
Kiribati KI
Kuwait KW
Laos LA
Latvia LV
Lebanon LB
Lesotho LS
Liberia LR
Liechtenstein LI
Lithuania LT
Luxembourg LU
Macau MO
Madagascar MG
Malawi MW
Malaysia MY
Maldives MV
Mali ML
Malta MT
Marshall Islands MH
Martinique (French) MQ
Mauritania MR
Mauritius MU
Mexico MX
Micronesia FM
Moldavia MD
Monaco MC
Mongolia MN
Montenegro ME
Montserrat MS
Morocco MA
Mozambique MZ
Myanmar MM
Namibia NA
Nauru NR
Nepal NP
Netherland Antilles AN
Netherlands NL
Neutral Zone NT
New Caledonia (French) NC
New Zealand NZ
Nicaragua NI
Niger NE
Nigeria NG
Niue NU
Norfolk Island NF
Northern Mariana Is MP
Norway NO
Oman OM
Pakistan PK
Palau PW
Panama PA
Papua New PG
Paraguay PY
Peru PE
Philippines PH
Pitcairn PN
Poland PL
Polynesia (French) PF
Portugal PT
Puerto Rico (US) PR
Qatar QA
Reunion (French) RE
Romania RO
Russian Federation RU
Rwanda RW
Saint Helena SH
Saint Kitts Nevis Anguilla KN
Saint Lucia LC
Saint Pierre and Miquelon PM
Saint Tome and Principe ST
Saint Vincent and Grenadines VC
Samoa WS
San Marino SM
Saudi Arabia SA
Senegal SN
Serbia RS
Seychelles SC
Slovenia SL
Singapore SG
Slovak Republic SK
Slovenia SI
Solomon Islands SB
Somalia SO
South Africa ZA
South Georgia & Sandwich Is GS
South Korea KR
Soviet Union SU
Spain ES
Sri Lanka LK
Sudan SD
Suriname SR
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Is SJ
Swaziland SZ
Sweden SE
Switzerland CH
Tadjikistan TJ
Taiwan TW
Tanzania TZ
Thailand TH
Togo TG
Tokelau TK
Tonga TO
Trinidad and Tobago TT
Tunisia TN
Turkey TR
Turkmenistan TM
Turks and Caicos Islands TC
Tuvalu TV
Ukraine UA
United Arab Emirates AE
United Kingdom GB
United States US
Uruguay UR
US Minor Outlying Islands UM
Uzbekistan UZ
Vanuatu VU
Vatican City State VA
Venezuela VE
Vietnam VN
Virgin Islands (British) VG
Virgin Islands (US) VI
Wallis and Futuna Islands WF
Western Sahara EH
Yemen YE
Zaire ZR
Zambia ZM
Zimbabwe ZW