Manual Renewal

You can renew a certificate that expires in less than one month by running:

After the sslmate command completes, three files will be placed in your configured certificate directory:

• example.com.crt - the renewed certificate
• example.com.chain.crt - the certificate chain (aka intermediate cert)
• example.com.chained.crt - a concatenation of the certificate and the chain, for convenience

After these files are downloaded, you should restart your web server so it loads the renewed certificate. You should continue using the same .key file that was generated by the original sslmate buy command.

Automatic Renewal

If you specify the --auto-renew option to sslmate buy, or if your account has auto-renewal on by default, a certificate will be automatically renewed when its expiration date approaches. You can also change the auto-renewal setting of an existing certificate from your certificates page.

If you use auto-renewal, you may wish to set up a cron job that runs sslmate download so that renewed certificates are automatically installed on your server.

Auto-renewal works as follows:

1. 37 days before a certificate expires, you will receive a notice at your account's email address about the upcoming renewal. This email will contain a link to cancel the renewal.
2. 30 days before a certificate expires, it will be renewed and your account's credit card will be charged.
3. If you are using email approval, you will receive an approval email at the same address used to approve the original certificate. You must follow the instructions in the email to verify your control of the domain. If you are using DNS or HTTP approval, your certificate will be approved automatically.
4. Once the certificate is approved, the renewed certificate will be sent to you via email and will be available for download via sslmate download and from your certificates console. If you run sslmate download from a cron job, the renewed certificate will be automatically downloaded to your servers. The renewed certificate will be valid for one year following the current expiration date.

Expiration Notices

SSLMate will begin emailing you expiration notices 30 days before a certificate expires if it has not been renewed. The notices will increase in frequency as the expiration date approaches. To mute notifications, follow the link at the bottom of an expiration email.