Enabling HTTPS on Your WordPress Instance Using PD Hosting’s WordPress VPS

HTTPS, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, assures visitors that your website is secure and is sending and receiving encrypted data. A non-secure website address starts with http (e.g., http://example.com), while a secure website’s address starts with https (e.g., https://example.com). It’s recommended to enable HTTPS, even if your website is primarily informational. Most web browsers will notify website visitors that your site is not secure if HTTPS is not enabled, and your website will rank lower in search engine results.

This guide will help you enable HTTPS on your WordPress instance using the Bitnami HTTPS configuration tool (bncert) in our WordPress VPS packages: VPS WP – Business, VPS WP – Professional, and VPS WP – Enterprise. This tool lets you request certificates only for the domains and subdomains that you specify. Alternatively, you can use the Certbot tool, which allows you to request a certificate for domains and a wildcard certificate for subdomains. Please note that Certbot does not automatically renew your certificate like the bncert tool. If you use Certbot, you’ll have to manually renew your certificates every 90 days.

Step 1: Understanding the Process

To enable HTTPS for your WordPress website, you’ll connect to your WordPress VPS instance using SSH and use the bncert tool to request an SSL/TLS certificate from Let’s Encrypt. You’ll specify your website’s primary domain (example.com) and alternate domains (e.g., www.example.com, blog.example.com), if any. Let’s Encrypt will validate that you own the domains either by asking you to create TXT records in your domain’s DNS or by verifying that the domains are directing traffic to the public IP address of your instance.

After your certificate is validated, you can configure your WordPress website to automatically redirect visitors from HTTP to HTTPS (i.e., http://example.com redirects to https://example.com). You can also set your website to automatically redirect the www subdomain to the apex of your domain (i.e., https://www.example.com redirects to https://example.com) or vice versa. These redirections are also configured using the bncert tool.

Let’s Encrypt requires that you renew your certificate every 90 days to maintain HTTPS on your website. The bncert tool automatically renews your certificates for you, so you can focus on your website.

Step 2: Meeting the Prerequisites

Complete the following prerequisites:

1. Create a WordPress instance in PD Hosting, and configure your website on your instance.
2. Add DNS records to your domain’s DNS that direct traffic for the apex of your domain (example.com) and its www subdomain (www.example.com) to the public IP address of your WordPress instance in PD Hosting.

Step 3: Connecting to Your Instance

Connect to your instance using SSH from the PD Hosting console. You should see a successful connection message in your terminal window after the connection is established.

Step 4: Checking the bncert Tool Installation

The bncert tool might not be preinstalled on your WordPress VPS instance. Run sudo /opt/bitnami/bncert-tool to see if it’s installed. If the bncert tool is not installed, follow the instructions provided to download and install the tool. After it’s installed, you can proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Enabling HTTPS on Your WordPress Instance

Run sudo /opt/bitnami/bncert-tool and follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to enter the domain names that you want to request a certificate for, and your preferred domain redirection settings. After you finish answering the prompts, the bncert tool will request and install the certificate and configure your website for HTTPS.

Step 6: Verifying HTTPS on Your Website

Go to your website to confirm that it’s using HTTPS. You should see a padlock or a similar symbol in the address bar of your browser, indicating that the connection is secure. If your website is not using HTTPS, clear your browser’s cache and try again.

Remember, the bncert tool will automatically renew your certificates every 90 days. If you add new domains to your WordPress instance, you’ll need to repeat this process to enable HTTPS for them.

This guide should help you secure your WordPress website running on PD Hosting’s WordPress VPS. Your users can confidently visit your website knowing that their data is protected.