Technical Support FAQ
We have put together a range of information to help you identify most common problems and resolve them quickly. If you can’t find the answer here, you can always contact us and we will be happy to help answer your questions.
Email FAQ
Email Trouble Shooting
MS Outlook Set up
Apple Mac & iOS
Android Mail
General
Email Trouble Shooting
We have been made aware of a number of phishing emails being sent to some of our customers. These emails are designed to look like they come from us, or other server providers, but they are fraudulent.
Example we have seen:
- Email asking you to “verify your email address” to continue using your webmail, and provides a link to click.
- Email saying you have emails “Stuck” in your inbox or sent box asking you to login to release them.
- Others follow a similar format, requesting you to confirm logins to cPanel or to our Client Area.
How to Stay Safe
- Always check that the URL in your browser is legitimate before entering login details.
- If you receive one of these suspicious requests, please do not click any links. Instead, contact our support team directly by raising a ticket within your Client Area.
- If you believe you may have entered your details into one of these phishing pages, please update your access credentials immediately to protect your account or contact our support team.
ℹ️ A Note on Phishing vs. Security Breaches
It is important to understand that this is not a security breach of our systems. None of our databases, servers, or client data have been compromised. Phishing is a common type of online fraud where attackers send emails pretending to be from trusted companies. Their goal is to trick individuals into handing over login credentials or payment information. Because these emails are sent externally, and often in bulk to random addresses, they are extremely difficult to prevent altogether. The most effective protection is vigilance: always double-check sender addresses, verify links before clicking, and be suspicious of unexpected requests for login or payment details. 🔒 Your security is our priority, and we will continue to monitor this situation closely. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of a message, please contact us directly for confirmation.
The most common issues relating to email problems is their set up. You must ensure you have the correct credentials (username and password), correct mail servers, and authentication method. Check below to find your Device or Mail Applications guide to set up your email
Check your set up as above. If the set up is correct, then the most likely issue is your IP Address. If your IP Address is on our Black List, then our server security will prevent you from sending emails. This is to stop spammers that might have hacked your account, using your email to send spam. To resolve this, you need a new IP Address from your ISP.
Most common reason is that your email, domain or mail server has been black listed. This happens if your email has been cloned and is used for spamming. Take a copy of the message included in the rejection email and contact our support line.
If you have a fixed IP Address you need to contact your ISP who can apply for its removal from the Blacklist. If you are on dynamic IP Address simply power down your Router or ADSL Modem, or Reset it from the Management Page. The device will automatically acquire a new IP Address which hopefully will not be on any Blacklists.
]First contact us with any rejection email messages you have that leads you to believe you have been blacklisted. Whilst we try to remove you from the blacklist, use our Webmail server. Webmail uses a different email server and IP Address so the chances are your emails will get through.
Firstly, beware that we never send you an email and ask you to login with a link. If you receive these emails, please ignore them as they are phishing attempts.
Secondly, we never ask you for your password. If you receive these emails, please ignore them as they are phishing attempts.
We only ever send you an email to say your account is reaching its limit. No links or login links will be included.
Depending on your hosting account you will be allocated different storage for your email account. You can either upgrade your account or do some housekeeping and release storage. First delete all emails with large attachments. Second, delete all older emails (Do you really need emails that are 2 years old?).
We recommend, you check your email application set up and make sure you have selected to empty Deleted emails on exit + remove deleted emails from the server, and if practical also set to remove emails older than 12 months from your server. These old emails will still be held in your Email Applications such as Outlook or Apple Mail, but they will be removed from the server to free up storage space.
Errors produced in Outlook and Outlook Express in the form of 0x800***** can be referenced by the Microsoft support database at Microsoft Support
- SMTP authentication enabled/disabled when it should be the opposite.
- Your ISP is blocking access to 3rd party SMTP servers, try changing the SMTP port to ‘587’, or try using your ISP’s SMTP server details.
- Your Outlook account has become corrupt, delete and re-create it to try resolving this.
- The package has only been created in the last few hours, and the DNS changes have not yet fully propagated.
- Your firewall could even be blocking your mail client if you haven’t used it before.
Error 550 is the most common SMTP error message. It generally comes with a side-message like “550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable” or “550 5 2 1 mail from refused spam site”.
550 error code means that your SMTP server isn’t able to deliver the sent email to the user because his mailbox does not exist: either the customer has entered it wrong (a typical example is something like mail@gmil.com instead of mail@gmail.com), or the account has been deactivated, or replaced with a new one (but you were not notified).
As a sender you cannot solve this issue unless you can guess the correct email address! If you are using a mailing list, you must remove this address from your mailing list otherwise you will keep getting 550 messages. This is not simply annoying; it is harmful for your email reputation. In fact, it implicitly suggests to ISPs and receiving systems that you don’t really care about your list hygiene – just like spammers. This means you could be penalized and see your delivery rate decrease.
Of course the best practice here is not simply to erase the address that return a 550 error code, but to replace it with a valid one whenever possible. How to do that? If you have another way to contact your user (a phone number, Twitter, Skype) just send them a message warning them their current email account is wrong, and to ask them for a new or correct one.
This is because you are connecting to a shared mail server so the SSL certificate will have a generic address associated with it. That address won’t match the address you are using to connect to the mail server as you would be using mail.[your domain] as the server address, and that is what causes the warning. The connection will still be successful though and the SSL certificate will encrypt your connection.
You can just ignore the warning and it won’t cause any problems.
If you keep getting the warning and you want to prevent it from appearing then you can change the server address in your connection settings to the address associated with the SSL certificate. That address will be given in the warning, but you may need to choose the option to view the certificate to see it. That is generally not recommended though, so if you have any problems connecting using that address you should switch back to using mail.[your domain].
Yes, mail connections for all protocols with SSL encryption are supported. You need to use a different Mail Server for access, so contact us first for the Mail Server details. The ports for this are: POP3: 995 IMAP: 993 SMTP: 465 You should choose the option in your mail client to use secure password authentication when using a secure connection. It is expected that a warning will be given when making a secure connection which is addressed in the support database article entitled “Why do I see an SSL warning when connecting to my mailbox with a mail client?”.
All major email clients allow mailboxes to be accessed via either POP3 or IMAP4. These are two different protocols.
POP3
On your desktop client, POP3 is downloaded directly from the mail server onto your computer. Your computer will store a “local copy” of the mail, and usually delete it from the server. You can create local folders on your computer to organise the mail, but you won’t see these or your mail if you logged in using webmail. Additionally, if you create folders to organise your mail in webmail, you won’t be able to access these on your desktop client. Mail will therefore only contribute towards the mailbox limits while it is left in the inbox or not deleted from your folders.IMAP
In contrast IMAP, is left on the server (where it will continue contributing towards your mailbox limit). If you create folders/organise your mail in your desktop client, you will see this update when you log in with the webmail client (and vice-versa). Similarily, when you mark a message as “read” in webmail, it will appear “read” in your desktop client. If you’re accessing your mail on several different computers, IMAP can therefore be useful.MS Outlook Set up
Steps to setting up your mailbox in Outlook Start Outlook.
- From the File menu, click “Account Settings”
- Click “New”
- Click “E-mail Account”
- In the Auto Account Setup dialog box, click to select the “Manually configure server settings or additional server types” check box, and then click Next.
- Click “Internet E-Mail”, and then click Next.
- Fill out the required settings as follow:
- Your Name: Your name exactly as you want it to appear to recipients when they receive email from you
- Email Address: your full email address – eg jsmith@my-domain.com
- Account Type: POP (recommended if you want to save space on the server)
- Incoming mail server: mail. – replace with your domain name, so for example mail.my-domain.com
- Outgoing mail server (SMTP): mail. – same as the Incoming mail server
- Incoming Port: 110 (for POP) or 143 (for IMAP)
- Outgoing Port: 25 or 587 (for POP) or 587 (for IMAP)
- Username: your full email address once again
- Password: your mail box password
- Ensure that ‘Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) remains unchecked. This is important as you may experience difficulty sending email with this enabled.
- Click “More Settings…” in the bottom right of the window.
- Click “Outgoing Server” tab at the top.
- Tick the box labelled “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication”.
- Ensure that the “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected.
- Click “Advanced” tab at the top.
- In the Outgoing mail (SMTP) box, type 25. *Note, if you have trouble sending e-mail, please try changing this to port 587.
- Ensure that ‘This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) is unchecked.
- The ‘Use the following type of encrypted connection:’ option should be set to None.
- Click “OK” to close the window.
- Click Next after you have completed entering this configuration information
- Click Finish.
1. Start Outlook.
2. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
3. Click New.
4. Click ‘Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP’, and then click Next.
5. In the Auto Account Setup dialog box, click to select the Manually configure server settings or additional server types check box, and then click Next.
6. Click Internet E-Mail, and then click Next.
7. Fill out the required settings as following:
- Your Name: Your name exactly as you want it to appear to recipients when they receive email from you Email Address: your full email address – eg jsmith@my-domain.com
- Account Type: IMAP (POP recommended if you want to save space on the server) Incoming mail server: mail. – replace with your domain name, so for example mail.my-domain.com Outgoing mail server (SMTP): mail. – same as the Incoming mail server
- Email Address: your full email address – eg jsmith@my-domain.com
- Account Type: IMAP (POP recommended if you want to save space on the server) Incoming mail server: mail. – replace with your domain name, so for example mail.my-domain.com Outgoing mail server (SMTP): mail. – same as the Incoming mail server
- Port: 110 (for POP) or 143 (for IMAP)
- Username: your full email address once again Password: your mail box password
- Ensure that “Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)” remains unchecked. This is important as you may experience difficulty sending email with this enabled.
1. Start Outlook.
2. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
3. Under E-mail Accounts, click ‘Add a new e-mail account’, and then click Next.
4. Click IMAP or POP (we recommend POP) as the type of account that you are creating, and then click Next.
5. Fill out the required settings as following:
- Your Name: Your name exactly as you want it to appear to recipients when they receive email from you
- Email Address: your full email address – eg jsmith@my-domain.com
- Account Type: IMAP or POP (recommended)
- Incoming mail server: mail. – replace with your domain name, so for example mail.my-domain.com
- Outgoing mail server (SMTP): mail. – same as the Incoming mail server
- Username: your full email address once again
- Password: your mail box password Ensure that ‘Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) remains unchecked. This is important as you may experience difficulty sending email with this enabled.
Errors produced in Outlook and Outlook Express in the form of 0x800***** can be referenced by the Microsoft support database at Microsoft Support
- SMTP authentication enabled/disabled when it should be the opposite.
- Your ISP is blocking access to 3rd party SMTP servers, try changing the SMTP port to ‘587’, or try using your ISP’s SMTP server details.
- Your Outlook account has become corrupt, delete and re-create it to try resolving this.
- The package has only been created in the last few hours, and the DNS changes have not yet fully propagated.
- Your firewall could even be blocking your mail client if you haven’t used it before.
Apple Mac & iOS
Setting up my email with Mail for Mac OS X 10.4 & iOS
On the menu bar click Mail, then Preferences, then Accounts and finally click the plus at the bottom right.
General Information
- Account Type: POP or IMAP
- Account Description: A personal description for your mail box
- Full Name: Your Name
- Email Address: Full email address
- Click Continue
- Mail Server: mail.yourdomain
- Username: your email address
- Password: mailbox password
- SSL/TSL: Off
- Click Continue
- Outgoing Mail Server: mail.yourdomain
- User Authentication: Ticked
- Username: your email address
- Password: your mailbox password
- SSL/TSL: Off
- Click Continue
- Check your settings
- Click Continue if you are happy with them
- Click Done
You can setup your iPhone or iPad to receive mail from one of your mailboxes as follows (Please Note once IMAP is activated, all your folders including Inbox, Sub-Folders, Sent, etc. will contribute towards your mailbox storage limit. You may need to increase your mailbox storage capacity. CHOOSE POP3 if you do not want to use up storage):
Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Other > Add Mail Account
- On the next screen enter the following settings:
- Name: Your name as you would like recipients to see it
- Address: The email address for the mailbox you want to setup
- Password: The password for the mailbox
- Description: Your own description for the mailbox
- Press Save
- Incoming Mail Server Host Name: mail.yourdomainname (Or the mail server host name/IP address)
- User Name: The email address for the mailbox you want to setup
- Password: The password for the mailbox (should already be filled in)
- Outgoing Mail Server SMTP: mail.yourdomainname (Or the mail server host name/IP address)
- User Name: The email address for the mailbox you want to setup
- Password: The password for the mailbox
- Press Save
- It should then connect to the mail server and the account will be setup.
- Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Select the mail account > SMTP > Primary Server > Server Port and changing this to 587.
This article only applies for mailboxes setup as IMAP mailboxes on your iPhone or iPad.
(Please Note once IMAP is activated, all your folders including Inbox, Sub-Folders, Sent, etc. will contribute towards your mailbox storage limit. You may need to increase your mailbox storage capacity)
If you are unsure how to setup your mailbox on your iPhone or iPad, please see the article “How to setup email on an iPhone or iPad”.
You can sync your Sent, Draft and Deleted items folders on your iPhone or iPad with your mailbox as follows:
- Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
- Select the account you wish to sync On the next screen, scroll down to Advanced.
- You will now see a section called “Mailbox Behaviours” which lists your Drafts, Sent and Deleted folders, select whichever you want to sync.
- On the next screen, go down to the “On the Server” section and select the correct folder that you want to sync this local folder to. For most users, this will be “Sent” for Sent, “Drafts” for Drafts and “Trash” for Deleted.
- If you repeat this process for each of your Sent, Drafts and Deleted folders, they will be synced up with their respective folder on the server.
If you get the below error message when trying to send email from your iPhone or iPad: Secure Connection Failed The certificate for “********************” may not be valid.
This is because the host name on the SSL certificate does not match the host name of the server entered into the settings for the mailbox, which is just because it is a shared SSL certificate. The certificate can just be accepted and SSL will function successfully
Or to avoid the warning, you can change this in your settings on your iPhone or iPad as follows
- Go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and select the account you wish to change
- On the next screen, scroll down and select Advanced.
- In the “Incoming Settings” section
- Turn “Use SSL” to OFF
This is because you are connecting to a shared mail server so the SSL certificate will have a generic address associated with it. That address won’t match the address you are using to connect to the mail server as you would be using mail.[your domain] as the server address, and that is what causes the warning. The connection will still be successful though and the SSL certificate will encrypt your connection.
You can just ignore the warning and it won’t cause any problems.
If you keep getting the warning and you want to prevent it from appearing then you can change the server address in your connection settings to the address associated with the SSL certificate. That address will be given in the warning, but you may need to choose the option to view the certificate to see it. That is generally not recommended though, so if you have any problems connecting using that address you should switch back to using mail.[your domain].
Yes, mail connections for all protocols with SSL encryption are supported. The ports for this are: POP3: 995 IMAP: 993 SMTP: 465 You should choose the option in your mail client to use secure password authentication when using a secure connection. It is expected that a warning will be given when making a secure connection which is addressed in the support database article entitled “Why do I see an SSL warning when connecting to my mailbox with a mail client?”.
All major email clients allow mailboxes to be accessed via either POP3 or IMAP4. These are two different protocols.
POP3
On your desktop client, POP3 is downloaded directly from the mail server onto your computer. Your computer will store a “local copy” of the mail, and usually delete it from the server. You can create local folders on your computer to organise the mail, but you won’t see these or your mail if you logged in using webmail. Additionally, if you create folders to organise your mail in webmail, you won’t be able to access these on your desktop client. Mail will therefore only contribute towards the mailbox limits while it is left in the inbox or not deleted from your folders.IMAP
In contrast IMAP, is left on the server (where it will continue contributing towards your mailbox limit). If you create folders/organise your mail in your desktop client, you will see this update when you log in with the webmail client (and vice-versa). Similarily, when you mark a message as “read” in webmail, it will appear “read” in your desktop client. If you’re accessing your mail on several different computers, IMAP can therefore be useful.Android Mail
This instructions is for setting up Android native email application, which is no longer available on newer Android Versions (8+). For other 3rd party apps, please refer to the app supplier guide.
- Select “Settings”
- Select “Accounts”
- Click on “+ Add account”
- Select “Email”
- Enter your email Address
- Enter you password
- The app will try Auto Set up and it will fail!
- Select “Manual Settings”
- Select Pop3 or IMAP (Selecting IMAP means you will use up your storage on Email Server)
- Incoming Server: mail.YOURDOMAIN-NAME
- Port: POP3=110 or IMAP=143
- SSL: NO
- Authentication: Password
- Leave a copy on the server (important if you use multiple devices)
- Remove from server: when I delete
- Outgoing Mail Server: mail.YOURDOMAIN-NAME
- Port: POP3=25 or 587, IMAP=587 only
- SSL: NO
- Authentication: Password
- Account Name: Enter name you want to see in your email folder
- Display Name: Enter name you want Recipients to see
- Press Save
All major email clients allow mailboxes to be accessed via either POP3 or IMAP4. These are two different protocols.
POP3
On your desktop client, POP3 is downloaded directly from the mail server onto your computer. Your computer will store a “local copy” of the mail, and usually delete it from the server. You can create local folders on your computer to organise the mail, but you won’t see these or your mail if you logged in using webmail. Additionally, if you create folders to organise your mail in webmail, you won’t be able to access these on your desktop client. Mail will therefore only contribute towards the mailbox limits while it is left in the inbox or not deleted from your folders.IMAP
In contrast IMAP, is left on the server (where it will continue contributing towards your mailbox limit). If you create folders/organise your mail in your desktop client, you will see this update when you log in with the webmail client (and vice-versa). Similarily, when you mark a message as “read” in webmail, it will appear “read” in your desktop client. If you’re accessing your mail on several different computers, IMAP can therefore be useful.
This is because you are connecting to a shared mail server so the SSL certificate will have a generic address associated with it. That address won’t match the address you are using to connect to the mail server as you would be using mail.[your domain] as the server address, and that is what causes the warning. The connection will still be successful though and the SSL certificate will encrypt your connection.
You can just ignore the warning and it won’t cause any problems.
If you keep getting the warning and you want to prevent it from appearing then you can change the server address in your connection settings to the address associated with the SSL certificate. That address will be given in the warning, but you may need to choose the option to view the certificate to see it. That is generally not recommended though, so if you have any problems connecting using that address you should switch back to using mail.[your domain].
Yes, mail connections for all protocols with SSL encryption are supported. The ports for this are: POP3: 995 IMAP: 993 SMTP: 465 You should choose the option in your mail client to use secure password authentication when using a secure connection. It is expected that a warning will be given when making a secure connection which is addressed in the support database article entitled “Why do I see an SSL warning when connecting to my mailbox with a mail client?”.
General
All major email clients allow mailboxes to be accessed via either POP3 or IMAP4. These are two different protocols.
POP3
On your desktop client, POP3 is downloaded directly from the mail server onto your computer. Your computer will store a “local copy” of the mail, and usually delete it from the server. You can create local folders on your computer to organise the mail, but you won’t see these or your mail if you logged in using webmail. Additionally, if you create folders to organise your mail in webmail, you won’t be able to access these on your desktop client. Mail will therefore only contribute towards the mailbox limits while it is left in the inbox or not deleted from your folders.IMAP
In contrast IMAP, is left on the server (where it will continue contributing towards your mailbox limit). If you create folders/organise your mail in your desktop client, you will see this update when you log in with the webmail client (and vice-versa). Similarily, when you mark a message as “read” in webmail, it will appear “read” in your desktop client. If you’re accessing your mail on several different computers, IMAP can therefore be useful.
This is because you are connecting to a shared mail server so the SSL certificate will have a generic address associated with it. That address won’t match the address you are using to connect to the mail server as you would be using mail.[your domain] as the server address, and that is what causes the warning. The connection will still be successful though and the SSL certificate will encrypt your connection.
You can just ignore the warning and it won’t cause any problems.
If you keep getting the warning and you want to prevent it from appearing then you can change the server address in your connection settings to the address associated with the SSL certificate. That address will be given in the warning, but you may need to choose the option to view the certificate to see it. That is generally not recommended though, so if you have any problems connecting using that address you should switch back to using mail.[your domain].
Yes, mail connections for all protocols with SSL encryption are supported. The ports for this are: POP3: 995 IMAP: 993 SMTP: 465 You should choose the option in your mail client to use secure password authentication when using a secure connection. It is expected that a warning will be given when making a secure connection which is addressed in the support database article entitled “Why do I see an SSL warning when connecting to my mailbox with a mail client?”.
Hosting FAQ
Hosting
FTP
SSL
Hosting
Once your payment has been cleared you will receive an email confirmation. This will include URLs that enable you to access your Hosting Account, DNS, FTP Access, and Control Panel. If you have not received this email within 24 hours of placing your order, please contact our support line
Once your payment has been cleared you will receive an email confirmation. This will include URLs that enable you to access your Hosting Account, NameServer, FTP Access, and Control Panel. If you have not received this email within 24 hours of placing your order, please contact our support line.
We will upgrade your hosting account for the first 30 days without any administration fees. After 30 days we may charge you a small administration fee. However, you need to contact us so that we can check your website before we can commit to providing managed services
Just contact our support line and let us know you no longer need your Hosting Account and we will delete the account on your renewal date. We will give you a full refund if you cancel within 30 days of ordering any new Hosting Service. After the initial 30 days we do not give any refund. (VPS & Dedicated Servers may have different terms)
Firstly, beware that we never send you an email and ask you to login with a link. If you receive these emails, please ignore them as they are phishing attempts.
Secondly, we never ask you for your password. If you receive these emails, please ignore them as they are phishing attempts.
We only ever send you an email to say your account is reaching its limit. No links or login links will be included.
Depending on your hosting account you will be allocated different storage for your email account. You can either upgrade your account or do some housekeeping and release storage. First delete all emails with large attachments. Second, delete all older emails (Do you really need emails that are 2 years old?).
We recommend, you check your email application set up and make sure you have selected to empty Deleted emails on exit + remove deleted emails from the server, and if practical also set to remove emails older than 12 months from your server. These old emails will still be held in your Email Applications such as Outlook or Apple Mail, but they will be removed from the server to free up storage space.
FTP
Once your payment has been cleared you will receive an email confirmation. This will include URLs that enable you to access your Hosting Account, DNS, FTP Access, and Control Panel. If you have not received this email within 24 hours of placing your order, please contact our support line.
Login your Control Panel using the URL you were provided with your Hosting Package Welcome Email.
- Scroll down the page and on your right hand sidebar you will see a section called “FTP”.
- You have the option of unlocking the FTP by time (after which the port is locked automatically) or you can unlock it by your IP Address.
- Your IP address is shown in the panel so just select this option but remember you must lock the FTP manually if you choose this option.
- Login your Control Panel and on the main panel look for “Additional FTP”.
- Click on Additional FTP Accounts.
- Add a new FTP user by creating a new user account.
- The system will automatically generate a password.
- Login Control Panel
- Click on Additional FTP Accounts
- Scroll down to the account you want to open
- Click on “Unlock FTP”
- Select the time you want to open or use IP Address (you need to know their IP Address)
- If you select “By Time” FTP port will close automatically
- If you select by “IP Address” you must manually close it after the work is completed.
Check your FTP setting and try it on “Passive FTP”. Do not select “Secure FTP” or “Encrypted FTP” as these connections are only supported when you purchase SSL
We suggest you set up a separate FTP account from your Control Panel. FTP accounts are free and you can have as many as you want. Go to your Control Panel, select FTP Account, Select “ADD NEW”, allocate credentials (username and password), Set FTP to “Unlocked” by selecting the length of time or by IP Address that is authorised to use it, and send the 3rd party their credentials. Once their work is done, ensure their FTP account is locked.
SSL
Our SSL free certificates are supplied by LetsEncrypt, and our paid SSL are supplied by GlobalSign.
- Our Free SSL is certified by Let’sEncrypt.
- All our Paid SSL certificates are Version 3.0 signed by Equifax Global, using AES 256bit encryption.
Once the certificate has been installed, you can get the code for the site seal image from GlobalSign’s website, here -> GlobalSign
The main reason for this is the use of a http:// link to a graphic or script inside the page rather than a virtual reference to the file which prevents the padlock from appearing. Make sure all links to any page or image you wish to be secure do not contain any “absolute http:// links” to files/images and only use “relative links” (ie if in doubt use the full URL with https://)
Our SSL certificates are provided by GlobalSign, and upon purchase, they send an authorisation email to confirm the certificate’s creation. This email is always sent to admin@[YOURDOMAIN]. The exception to this is if you order the SSL for a sub-domain, that is not “www”. So you may for example choose the sub-domain of “secure” and in this case the email will be sent to admin@secure.[YOURDOMAIN] If this email is not responded to, we will be unable to install the certificate for you, Make sure you have the mailbox set up, and that it can receive mail. If you have already purchased a certificate, and the admin@ mailbox did not exist at the time, please contact our support department, we will be able to re-send the email for you. We will automatically install certificates you purchase from us, no manual work is required. However, if the certificate is newly set up, please note that a DNS update is required. This will point your chosen subdomain (e.g. https://www.yourdomain.com) at your new, unique IP address. If you are currently making use of external nameservers, you can view the unique IP address assigned to your domain by accessing our DNS management page, the IP will be stored there. This applies to all SSL certificates sold on our shared platform
SSL certificates could only be set up on a one-per-IP address basis in the past.
While this one-to-one relationship is simpler to implement, there are a finite number of IP addresses that can be used on the internet, and they are in ever-shorter supply.
As such, one IP address per SSL is a very wasteful use of a limited resource.
That’s why SNI (Service Name Indication) was developed, allowing multiple SSLs to be served from the same IP address.
We are obliged by the people who regulate the underlying internet technologies not to “waste” IP addresses, and the way Windows XP, and some older browsers, work with SSL certificates is considered wasteful.
This is why they are slowly being moved and why Windows XP is slowing down the adoption of better security standards for the Internet.
Old browsers don’t support the new way
SNI is supported in all modern browsers on modern operating systems, though some people that use older browsers may find that when they visit a site with an SSL certificate on a shared IP address, they are warned it is not valid.
This is not a problem with the certificate, but a case of old technology not being able to differentiate between certificates served through one IP address.
Internet Explorer version 7 on Windows Vista is the oldest version of Internet Explorer that supports SNI.
Any older versions of Internet Explorer won’t recognise this SSL certificates on shared IP addresses. Similarly, Internet Explorer versions 7 and 8, when run on Windows XP or older, will not recognise SNI SSLs.
The fix
In an age where software updates are readily available and can automatically be delivered to computers, there is not much reason outside of novelty to be using an old, insecure operating system or browser.
As time goes on, browsers that don’t support what is becoming an integral part of internet technologies will become much fewer and further between.
Even in cases where an old operating system is being used, up to date versions of Google Chrome, amongst other browsers, can be installed, which do support SNI, allowing sites, and their SSLs, to load correctly.
You need to visit your domain using “https://” at the start including the “www.” part of your domain. Remember your secure certificate is installed across the domain including “www.” Therefore to check the SSL has been installed correctly, visit your site using – https://www.[DOMAIN] Note – https://[DOMAIN] will result in warning message referring to a security certificate mis-match and won’t work. Similarly don’t forget to use https:// not http:// for all your pages that need to be secure, and images and files included within the page make sure they are referenced using https too, otherwise these items will be insecure and result in warnings. For details on the installed certificate your internet browser when visiting the secure page/site should display a locked ‘padlock’ icon in the bottom right corner of the screen – double click this icon to open the properties and display the details of your secure certificate.
In order to test if a connection is being made using SSL encryption you need to use the HTTPS environment variable. This will either be “on” if the request is made over HTTPS or it will be undefined if it is made over HTTP. Other methods to test for HTTPS may fail on our server architecture. This is an example rewrite rule that will redirect all requests made over HTTP to the HTTPS URL: RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{ENV:HTTPS} !=on RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
When you first purchase an Extended Validation certificate, you will be contacted by GlobalSign directly. The entire authorisation and set up process generally takes around 6 weeks. GlobalSign will need to be able to verify the following: – The Certificate Approver’s identity, title, and employment through an independent source. – That the Certificate Approver is authorized to obtain and approve EV certificates on behalf of the Organization. This can be verified through one of the following methods: o A Lawyer’s Opinion Letter o A Corporate Resolution o Directly contacting the CEO, COO, or similar executive at the organization and confirming the authority of the organizational contact. GlobalSign must contact the Certificate Approver using an independently-verified telephone number. During this verification call, GlobalSign must verify the following: – The name of the Certificate Requester identified in the certificate request and his or her authority to obtain the Extended Validation certificate on behalf of the organization. – Knowledge of the company’s ownership and right to use the domain identified in the certificate request. – Approval of the Extended Validation SSL Certificate request. – Acknowledgement of signature of GlobalSign SSL Certificate Subscriber Agreement that includes all Extended Validation terms and conditions.
The domain extensions .me and .so are country code domains for Montenegro and Somalia. Due to arms embargoes SSL certificates cannot be supplied to those countries so simple and standard SSL certificates cannot be provided for .me and .so domains. It would be possible to provide an extended verification SSL certificate for a company as the verification can determine that the company is not actually in the affected country.