Websites & Domains. Domains and SSL certificates

The "Websites & Domains" section lists the server's domains, their SSL certificates, and websites in one place. You can add a domain ahead of time without creating a website, issue a free Let's Encrypt certificate for it, and launch a website on it later. This article covers working with domains; launching a website is described in Websites & Domains. Creating a website.

The section is available as soon as the panel is installed — open it in the side menu.

Before you start

A certificate can only be issued for a domain that already points to your server. So before issuing one, create an A record with the server's IP address at your registrar or DNS host (an AAAA record for IPv6) and wait for it to update: usually a few minutes, sometimes up to an hour. For how to set up DNS, see How to configure DNS records for a mail server (the section on the A record applies to any website). Until the record exists, or while it points to another server, issuing the certificate ends with an error.

You can add a domain to the list before DNS is set up — you will need the certificate later.

Add a domain

1. Open the "Websites & Domains" section.
2. Click "Add domain".
3. In the "Domain name" field, enter the name without http:// and www — for example, example.com. You can enter an IPv4 address instead of a name. The panel warns you if the name is not valid.
4. Click "Add".

The domain appears in the list as a separate row, with the "Issue certificate" and "Create website" buttons and a delete icon. If the domain already exists, you will see the notification "Domain is already in use".

You do not need to add a domain in advance: when you create a website from the section header, the domain is added together with the website.

Issue an SSL certificate

The panel requests a free SSL certificate for the domain from Let's Encrypt and then renews it automatically.

1. In the domain row, click "Issue certificate".
2. Wait for the notification with the result: the button is inactive while the certificate is being issued.

Once the certificate is issued, the domain row shows a label with the expiry date — for example, "SSL · until 12/29/2026, 12:38" — and the issue button is replaced by the "Reissue certificate" icon. Use it to get the certificate again — for example, when the label changes to "SSL · expired".

No certificate is issued for an IP address: such a row has no issue button.

If the certificate is not issued

The panel shows a notification with the reason. Its "More" button opens the certificate authority's full response. These are the most common messages:

• "Failed to issue SSL certificate: DNS records for the domain not found" — the domain has no DNS records, or they have not updated yet.
• "Failed to issue SSL certificate: A or AAAA DNS records for the domain not found" — the domain has other records, but no A or AAAA record.
• "Failed to issue SSL certificate: DNS records point to another server" — the record points to an IP address that is not your server's.
• "Too many SSL certificate requests" — the certificate authority's limit has been reached; if the time of the next attempt is known, the panel shows it.
• "Failed to issue SSL certificate due to a certificate authority error" — the cause is given under "More".

What to do about each message is covered in Resolving ACME errors when issuing an SSL certificate. Once you have fixed the cause, click "Issue certificate" again. Do not retry until the cause is fixed: the certificate authority limits failed attempts.

Delete a domain

1. In the domain row, click the delete icon.
2. In the "Delete domain?" dialog, click "Delete".

Deletion cannot be undone. Here is what happens:

• The domain disappears from the list together with its issued certificate. If you add the domain again, you have to issue the certificate again.
• If the domain has only a website draft, the draft is deleted along with the domain. The same goes for a website whose setup stopped before the virtual host was created.
• If the domain has a running website, the delete icon deletes the website together with the domain (the dialog is titled "Delete website?"). The website's virtual host and certificate are deleted, but the folder with the website files, the database, and its user stay on the server. Delete them separately if you do not need them: the folder in the "Files" section, the database and its user in the MariaDB module (see MariaDB. Managing databases and users). The installed software — Nginx, PHP, MariaDB — stays as well.

⚠️ Installation domain

The domain you use to open the panel is marked in the list as "Installation domain". If you delete it, your browser will start warning about an insecure connection whenever you open the panel.

What's next

• Websites & Domains. Creating a website — launching a website on a domain: the form, the draft, the installation steps.
• How to configure DNS records for a mail server — how to create an A record for a domain; the section on it works for a website too.
• Resolving ACME errors when issuing an SSL certificate — what to do about each certificate error message.
• MariaDB. Managing databases and users — how to delete a database left over from a website.