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How to Set Up Digital Certificate on FileZilla Server

In the following guide, we will see how we can set up a Digital Certificate on your FTP Server running using FileZilla FTP Server.

Step 1: Buy a Digital Certificate from DigiCert or GoDaddy.com or other Certificate Authorities.

Step 2: You now need a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) which needs to be uploaded to the website where you bought your Digital Certificate from.

How to Create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for FileZilla

If you are running your FileZilla on a Windows Server, you need to first install OpenSSL, if you don’t have it yet.

OpenSSL does not provide Binaries and Engines anymore from their official website, however, their WiKi page list a couple of places where you can download OpenSSL for Windows.

OpenSSL WiKi Page: https://wiki.openssl.org/index.php/Binaries

Download the suitable Binary file for you and install it on the Windows Server you would like to create the CSR.

OpenSSL is usually downloaded in the following path: C:\OpenSSL-Win32 and you can run the OpenSSL program from Command Prompt as shown below:

Once you run the OpenSSL in Command Prompt, type the following line of commands:

genrsa –des3 –out MyDomainName.com.key 2048

Once you enter, it will ask you to key in a Pass Phrase. Ensure you remember this Pass Phrase. This is used to protect your Private Key.

After that, run the following line:

req –new –key MyDomainName.com.key –out MyDomainName.com.csr

You will be asked to enter the Pass Phrase you entered before.

Enter the required information. If your country is India, then the code is IN, for Singapore, it is SG and for United States, it is US. You can find a list of all the country codes here.

  • Common Name – your entry MUST match the site you are planning to secure. For example, if the SSL is for sarayoo.info, the Common Name  MUST be sarayoo.info.
  • Organisation – The Legal Name of your company.
  • Organisational Unit – The name of your department within the organisation that you mentioned
  • City / Locality – City or the town in which the organisation is located
  • State / Province – State or Province in which the organisation is located

Leave Email Address, Challenge Password and the Optional Company name blank

To generate the CSR file, run the following command line:

req -noout -text -in masgftp.mirandah.com.csr

Go to C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin and you will find a file with the name of your domain ending with .csr. Example: MyDomainName.com.csr

Open this file in a NotePad and copy this CSR, paste it on to the Certificate Authority’s (CA) website where asked.

You may need to verify the ownership of your website before the CA could issue the SSL Certificate.

Installing SSL Certificate on FileZilla

Once the CA generate a SSL Certificate, download the certificate on to the Server / Computer you want to secure.

Open FileZilla Server >> Go to Edit >> Settings

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