1. Re-purchase
To renew your SSL certificate, simply re-purchase it from the SSL Provider you originally bought it from. Now, and this is important, you’re going to want to renew the certificate before the validity period actually expires. The reasons for this are two-fold:
- You don’t want your protection to lapse. That would leave your website insecure and that’s going to end up costing you money. Not to mention, it can take a few days to issue the certificate so you may be without protection for as long as a week.
- If you renew before the certificate expires, the issuing Certificate Authority (CA) can rollover the majority of the previously validated information – depending on the certificate type – as long as the business information remains the same. You may just have to deal with a few requirements instead of the entire process. If you renew after the certificate has expired though, you’re really not renewing at all, you’re purchasing a new one and the CA is going to make you go through every step of the validation process again.
2. Validate & install
Now, the last thing to remember is that your job is not done simply because you renewed your certificate. The CA still has to validate and issue you a new certificate, then you still have to install it. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the job is done just because you purchased a renewal—that will leave you without protection when your old certificate expires. Remember to install your renewal certificate and you’ll be good to go!
The time rolls over
And don’t worry about losing time off your original certificate, that rolls over too—up to about 30 days!