Automated SSL certificates now on Silverstripe Cloud with Let’s Encrypt

We’re excited to announce the addition of Let’s Encrypt to Silverstripe Cloud. This was one of our most frequently requested new features, designed to automatically provision and deploy a free SSL certificate for your website.

Using an SSL certificate is an essential part of keeping your customers secure on your website. But procuring certificates isn’t typically a straightforward process, requiring you to:

• Spend exorbitant fees every year on overpriced certificates.
• Find someone to install and test the new certificate onto your servers.
• Remember to renew your certificate before it expires, or risk your website becoming inaccessible to your customers.

Enter Let’s Encrypt—a free, open, and automated certificate authority, supported by industry experts such as Mozilla, Cisco, Facebook, and Shopify.

Available now on Silverstripe Cloud, a one-time setup process gives your website a free SSL certificate supported by all browsers, and is automatically renewed and installed onto your website every two months without having to lift a finger.

Free and automated SSL certificates

Setting up Let’s Encrypt for your Silverstripe Cloud stack involves a one-time process to verify your domain names, and we’ll take care of the rest. Verifying your domain names requires DNS records to be created, which can be done by your Developer or IT team.

When you log into Silverstripe Cloud, navigate to the SSL tab of your environment. Using the Let’s Encrypt option, enter the domain names your certificate should cover and whether you want to also cover their ‘www’ equivalents. 

You’ll be given the DNS records you need to set up, which remain in-place while the certificate is active. Silverstripe Cloud's infrastructure will automatically check when these DNS records have been set up, and request a certificate from Let’s Encrypt when verified.

Your new SSL certificate is then automatically provisioned onto your stack and Web Application Firewall if available, requiring no deployments or manual intervention. The certificate will automatically renew every two months and re-provision itself onto your stack.

Further information about setting up Let’s Encrypt for your Silverstripe Cloud stack can be found in the Silverstripe Cloud Documentation.

High-performance managed hosting for your website

You can read more about Silverstripe Cloud here or take a deeper dive at some of its features in the Silverstripe Cloud Documentation.

If you've got feedback on this feature or if you'd like to talk to the Silverstripe Team, please feel free to get in touch.