5.6 KiB
title, description, section, order
| title | description | section | order |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSL Certificate and HTTPS | How to enable SSL on your Arcline domain, force HTTPS, fix mixed content warnings, and troubleshoot certificate problems. | getting-started | 6 |
SSL Certificate and HTTPS
Every Arcline hosting account includes free SSL certificates via AutoSSL (powered by Let's Encrypt). Certificates are issued automatically for your domain and renewed every 90 days without any action required on your part.
Check your SSL status
In cPanel, go to Security → SSL/TLS Status. You'll see a list of all domains on your account and their certificate status:
- Certificate valid — green, working
- Certificate expiring soon — will auto-renew before it expires
- Failed — usually a DNS problem; see Troubleshooting below
If AutoSSL hasn't run yet after you pointed your domain to Arcline, click Run AutoSSL at the top of the page to trigger it immediately.
Force HTTPS
Having an SSL certificate doesn't automatically redirect http:// to https://. You need to add a redirect so all visitors get the secure version.
WordPress
Install the Really Simple SSL plugin — it handles the redirect and fixes most mixed content issues in one click. It's free and widely trusted.
Or add this to the top of your .htaccess file (before the # BEGIN WordPress block):
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
Non-WordPress sites
Add the same redirect to .htaccess in your document root (/home/username/public_html/.htaccess):
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
Via cPanel
cPanel has a built-in redirect tool: go to Domains → Redirects, set type to Permanent (301), enter http://yourdomain.com as source, https://yourdomain.com as destination. Repeat for www.
Alternatively, cPanel → Security → SSL/TLS → Manage SSL Sites has a "Force HTTPS Redirect" checkbox for domains with an active certificate.
WordPress mixed content
After switching to HTTPS, WordPress sometimes still loads some resources over HTTP — images, scripts, or stylesheets embedded in post content. This causes browser warnings ("Not Secure" or padlock with warning).
Quick fix: Really Simple SSL catches most of these automatically.
Manual fix for URLs stored in the database:
Use the Better Search Replace plugin to change http://yourdomain.com to https://yourdomain.com across all tables. Run it in dry-run mode first to see what would change.
Or via WP-CLI over SSH:
wp search-replace 'http://yourdomain.com' 'https://yourdomain.com' --all-tables
After replacing, go to Settings → General and make sure both WordPress Address and Site Address are set to https://.
Let's Encrypt certificate details
Arcline uses Let's Encrypt certificates:
- Validity: 90 days (renewed automatically ~30 days before expiry)
- Covers: your domain and
www.yourdomain.com(and other configured domains/subdomains on the same account) - CA: Let's Encrypt (trusted by all modern browsers)
- Cost: free, included with all Arcline hosting plans
There's no manual renewal step. cPanel's AutoSSL daemon runs nightly and renews certificates that are within 30 days of expiry.
Installing a third-party certificate
If you have a purchased certificate (e.g., an Extended Validation or wildcard cert from a commercial CA), you can install it manually:
- cPanel → Security → SSL/TLS → Manage SSL Sites
- Select your domain from the dropdown
- Paste the certificate (
.crt) and private key (.key) into the fields - Paste the CA bundle / intermediate certificate if required by your CA
- Click Install Certificate
The Let's Encrypt certificate will be replaced. AutoSSL won't overwrite a manually installed certificate that isn't yet expired.
Troubleshooting
Certificate not issued
AutoSSL requires that your domain resolve to your Arcline server's IP before it can issue a certificate. Common causes of failure:
- DNS hasn't propagated — wait up to 24 hours after pointing nameservers, then run AutoSSL again
- Using external DNS with wrong A record — verify that
yourdomain.comandwww.yourdomain.comA records point to your Arcline server IP - CAA record blocking Let's Encrypt — if you have a CAA record that doesn't include
letsencrypt.org, Let's Encrypt can't issue. Add:0 issue "letsencrypt.org"or remove the CAA record
ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR or site not loading over HTTPS
Your certificate may not be installed yet. Check SSL/TLS Status in cPanel and run AutoSSL if needed. Temporarily access the site over http:// while waiting.
Certificate valid but browser shows "Not Secure"
Mixed content — some resources are still loading over HTTP. See WordPress mixed content above.
Certificate expired
AutoSSL should prevent this, but if it fails repeatedly (usually due to DNS issues), the certificate can expire. Fix the underlying DNS problem, then run AutoSSL manually in cPanel. If the domain is unreachable from outside, AutoSSL cannot complete the Let's Encrypt challenge.
HSTS issues after switching back to HTTP
If your site previously sent Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) headers, browsers will refuse to load it over HTTP even if you remove SSL. This is the HSTS preload taking effect. The fix is to restore the certificate — don't remove SSL from a site that had HSTS enabled.