Verify domain ownership (HTML or DNS) for my SSL certificate

Note

We do not follow redirects when we validate your domain ownership.

When requesting an SSL certificate, we might require you verify that you control the domain for which you're requesting the certificate. To do this, we provide you one of two options:

Method	How it works
DNS record	Create a TXT record we specify in your domain name's zone (DNS) file.
HTML page
Upload an HTML page with content we specify to a distinct directory of the website for the common name you're using.

Note

HTML validation will cause the SSL to be issued to the specified common name only, it will not apply any Subject Alternate Names (SAN) to include subdomains such as www.

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Which type of verification you can use depends on which type of certificate you're requesting:

Certificate Type	HTML	DNS
Standard/Simple	✓	✓
Extended Validation	✓	✓
Wildcard	-	✓

DNS Record

You will receive an email from us with a TXT value you need to create in your domain name's DNS zone file. Adding this TXT record won't impact your website at all; it's something you can only view through a special tool which performs DNS lookups.

You can only create the TXT record through the company whose nameservers your domain name uses.

Use the following information to create your TXT record:

Field	What to enter
Name (Host)	Type  @  (If your DNS is hosted outside of Heart Internet, you may need to leave this blank)
Value	Type the entire TXT value we sent you

Once you've created the DNS record, use the instructions in the  To Verify Your Domain Name Ownership  section of this article.

After uploading the HTML page or creating the TXT record, you need to let us know so we can verify your domain name ownership.

To Verify Your Domain Name Ownership

1. Log in to your Heart Internet account.
2. Click  SSL Certificates .
3. Next to the certificate you want to use, click  Manage .
4. Click  Check my update .

It can take 5-10 minutes for your verification to complete.

HTML Page

Note

As of the 1st December 2021 we will only issue a certificate to the exact common name you have specified. For example, if you enter domain.com as the common name, we will only issue a certificate for domain.com . We will not apply a subject alternate name (SAN) to include www.domain.com . If you wish for your SSL to be issued to both the root domain ( domain.com ) and the www sub-domain, you should use DNS verification.

You will receive an email from us with a unique identifier, which will be in a line of the email: "Your unique ID for these methods is [ uniqueID ].". You can also find your unique identifier in the SSL control panel for the SSL you are setting up.

1. Use an app like Notepad or TextEdit to create a file named  starfield.html .

2. Copy your unique ID, and  only  your unique ID, into the file. For example, if your unique ID was a1b2c3d4e5f , the content of your new .html file would be:

   Note

   a1b2c3d4e5f

3. Create a directory named "/.well-known/pki-validation/" in the highest-level directory of the website for the common name you're using. Usually, this is the website's root directory - for example, a directory named coolexample.com .  Note:  If you are running a Windows server, you will have to name the folder  /.well-known./  instead of  /.well-known/ , or your server won't let you create the folder.

4. Place the new .html file in the pki-validation directory. For example, after you place the file at that location, the file's URL would be  http://coolexample.com /.well-known/pki-validation/starfield.html .

5. Verify that you can access  starfield.html  in a web browser, and then use the instructions in the  To Verify Your Domain Name Ownership  section of this article.

If the SSL certificate is for the root domain, the HTML file must be findable at http://coolexample.com /.well-known/pki-validation/starfield.html. http://www.coolexample.com/.well-known/pki-validation/starfield.html  will not work.