What are the formats in which I can obtain the SSL/TLS Certificate?
Depending on your system or web server, you may need a specific format of SSL/TLS certificate to complete your installation.
Once the issuance process is complete, the SSL/TLS Certificate is available in the most popular formats:
PEM
It is a file encrypted in Base64 format using ASCII characters. This is the most commonly used format for SSL/TLS certificates.
Most web servers (e.g. Apache and Nginx) and Unix/Linux operating systems use this format.
The most common extensions for this format are .cer, .crt, .pem, or .key (for the private key).
P7B/PKCS#7
The PKCS#7 or P7B format contains the certificate and its chain (root and intermediate CA certificates), encrypted in Base64 ASCII format, in the same file with the .p7b extension.
This format does not contain the private key of the certificate.
PFX/P12/PKCS#12
The PFX/P12/PKCS#12 format is a binary format that contains the private key, certificate, and its chain (root and intermediate CA certificates) in a single password-protected file.
This is the format most commonly used by Windows servers.
Optionally, we offer the ability to generate the certificate in PFX/P12/PKCS#12 format through the customer portal.
Simply generate the CSR request through our portal and the private key will also be generated and stored securely, encrypted and password protected.
To buy or renew an SSL/TLS certificate, check out our offers: https://flexbox.cloud/en/certificates/tls-ssl/
Once the issuance process is complete, the SSL/TLS Certificate is available in the most popular formats:
PEM
It is a file encrypted in Base64 format using ASCII characters. This is the most commonly used format for SSL/TLS certificates.
Most web servers (e.g. Apache and Nginx) and Unix/Linux operating systems use this format.
The most common extensions for this format are .cer, .crt, .pem, or .key (for the private key).
P7B/PKCS#7
The PKCS#7 or P7B format contains the certificate and its chain (root and intermediate CA certificates), encrypted in Base64 ASCII format, in the same file with the .p7b extension.
This format does not contain the private key of the certificate.
PFX/P12/PKCS#12
The PFX/P12/PKCS#12 format is a binary format that contains the private key, certificate, and its chain (root and intermediate CA certificates) in a single password-protected file.
This is the format most commonly used by Windows servers.
Optionally, we offer the ability to generate the certificate in PFX/P12/PKCS#12 format through the customer portal.
Simply generate the CSR request through our portal and the private key will also be generated and stored securely, encrypted and password protected.
To buy or renew an SSL/TLS certificate, check out our offers: https://flexbox.cloud/en/certificates/tls-ssl/
Updated on: 02/11/2023
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