{"id":17623,"date":"2018-08-07T12:29:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T10:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hetzner.co.za\/help-centre\/?p=17623"},"modified":"2025-12-30T11:15:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T09:15:03","slug":"ssl-not-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/website\/ssl-not-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Why SSL\/TLS is not working for your website"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you browse to the <strong>https<\/strong> version of your domain, what appears in the address bar: a\u00a0<strong>padlock<\/strong>\u00a0 or an\u00a0<strong>\u24d8<\/strong> icon?<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-27825\" src=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/securexneelo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"573\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/securexneelo.png 1064w, https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/securexneelo-300x102.png 300w, https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/securexneelo-1024x348.png 1024w, https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/securexneelo-768x261.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The padlock confirms that your website is secured by <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span>, while the <strong>\u24d8<\/strong>\u00a0icon means that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the website has no <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span> certificate, or<\/li>\n<li>the <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span> is not activated, or<\/li>\n<li>the website contains some http content (a.k.a. &#8216;mixed content&#8217;)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While<strong> all xneelo-hosted websites include a free, pre-installed SSL\/TLS certificate<\/strong>, there are a few reasons why it may not be enabled or may not function correctly for your website:<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Name Servers<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does your domain make use of our xneelo name servers? A <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/domains\/what-is-a-whois-search\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Whois<\/a> lookup will show you what name servers are registered for your domain \u2013 if it&#8217;s not <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/domains\/xneelos-nameservers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">xneelo&#8217;s name servers<\/a>, then you need to make the following DNS changes via your domain host:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>A-records<\/strong>&#8221; need to be set for &#8220;<strong>www<\/strong>&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>@<\/strong>&#8221; pointing to your <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/products-and-services\/ip-address\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hosting server IP address<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Website name is too long<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s Encrypt <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span> is supported on website names (domains and sub-domains) of up to 64 characters. If your website name is over this length, then it is not possible to enable Let&#8217;s Encrypt.<\/p>\n<h2>DNS Propagation<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can take up to <strong>24 hours<\/strong> for the SSL\/TLS version of a site to become available due to <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/domains\/what-is-domain-propagation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DNS propagation<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New websites are configured on servers immediately when ordered.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once DNS propagation has been completed, these new websites will be reachable from anywhere on the internet. However, s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ince SSL\/TLS sites require certificates to be signed against a resolvable website, the SSL version of the website will only be available after DNS propagation has taken place and all of the above criteria have been satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certificate generation will happen automatically for the domain with a certificate name of the domain and an additional subject alternative name using <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www.domain i.e. example.com and www.example.com.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once signed, the website configuration will take place for the SSL\/TLS site as well as enabling it if no errors exist.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Customisations<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your site has a <strong>non-standard configuration<\/strong>. A customisation to the VirtualHost configuration for the website may have been requested, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Custom Documentroot Directive<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Custom ServerName or ServerAlias Directive<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0This is sometimes used by WordPress multisite setups<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:support@xneelo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us<\/a> for assistance.<\/p>\n<h2>Duplicate certificates<\/h2>\n<p>If your domain includes many subdomains (e.g. alpha.example.com, bravo.example.com, charlie.example.com), the <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span> activation may be rate limited.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s Encrypt has a <strong>Duplicate Certificate<\/strong> limit of 5 certificates per week. A certificate is considered a duplicate of an earlier certificate if they contain the exact same set of hostnames, ignoring capitalization and ordering of hostnames. For instance, if you requested a certificate for the names [www.example.com, example.com], you could request four more certificates for [www.example.com, example.com] during the week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:support@xneelo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us<\/a>\u00a0for assistance.<\/p>\n<h2>Mixed Content<\/h2>\n<p>Does your website load with the https:\/\/ prefix, yet some content, such as images, appears broken or there are error messages referring to <strong>Mixed Content<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>If yes, these are indications that <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span> is activated for your website, but some web content is loading via HTTP rather than HTTPS. \u00a0Follow our tutorial to fix the errors: <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/website\/mixed-content-errors-https\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mixed Content errors with HTTPS<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>SiteBuilder<\/h2>\n<p>Although <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL\/TLS<\/span> is automatically enabled for SiteBuilder websites, the site may not successfully load via HTTPS. Refer to the .<a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/control-panel\/force-https-using-a-htaccess-file\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">htaccess<\/a> guide for details on how to correct this error.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"plain":"When you browse to the <strong>https<\/strong> version of your domain, what appears in the address bar: a\u00a0<strong>padlock<\/strong>\u00a0 or an\u00a0<strong>\u24d8<\/strong> icon?\r\n<img class=\"alignnone wp-image-27825\" src=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/securexneelo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"573\" height=\"195\" \/>\r\n\r\nThe padlock confirms that your website is secured by <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span>, while the <strong>\u24d8<\/strong>\u00a0icon means that:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>the website has no <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span> certificate, or<\/li>\r\n \t<li>the <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span> is not activated, or<\/li>\r\n \t<li>the website contains some http content (a.k.a. 'mixed content')<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWhile<strong> all xneelo-hosted websites include a free, pre-installed SSL\/TLS certificate<\/strong>, there are a few reasons why it may not be enabled or may not function correctly for your website:\r\n<h2><span >Name Servers<\/span><\/h2>\r\n<span >Does your domain make use of our xneelo name servers? A <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/domains\/what-is-a-whois-search\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Whois<\/a> lookup will show you what name servers are registered for your domain \u2013 if it's not <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/domains\/xneelos-nameservers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">xneelo's name servers<\/a>, then you need to make the following DNS changes via your domain host:<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"<strong>A-records<\/strong>\" need to be set for \"<strong>www<\/strong>\" and \"<strong>@<\/strong>\" pointing to your <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/products-and-services\/ip-address\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hosting server IP address<\/a>.\r\n<h2>Website name is too long<\/h2>\r\nLet's Encrypt <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span> is supported on website names (domains and sub-domains) of up to 64 characters. If your website name is over this length, then it is not possible to enable Let's Encrypt.\r\n<h2>DNS Propagation<\/h2>\r\n<span >It can take up to <strong>24 hours<\/strong> for the SSL\/TLS version of a site to become available due to <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/domains\/what-is-domain-propagation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DNS propagation<\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span >New websites are configured on servers immediately when ordered.\u00a0<\/span><span >Once DNS propagation has been completed, these new websites will be reachable from anywhere on the internet. However, s<\/span><span >ince SSL\/TLS sites require certificates to be signed against a resolvable website, the SSL version of the website will only be available after DNS propagation has taken place and all of the above criteria have been satisfied.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span >Certificate generation will happen automatically for the domain with a certificate name of the domain and an additional subject alternative name using <\/span><span >www.domain i.e. example.com and www.example.com.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span >Once signed, the website configuration will take place for the SSL\/TLS site as well as enabling it if no errors exist.<\/span>\r\n<h2>Customisations<\/h2>\r\n<span >Your site has a <strong>non-standard configuration<\/strong>. A customisation to the VirtualHost configuration for the website may have been requested, such as:<\/span>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span >Custom Documentroot Directive<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Custom ServerName or ServerAlias Directive<\/li>\r\n \t<li>\u00a0This is sometimes used by WordPress multisite setups<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:support@xneelo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us<\/a> for assistance.\r\n<h2>Duplicate certificates<\/h2>\r\nIf your domain includes many subdomains (e.g. alpha.example.com, bravo.example.com, charlie.example.com), the <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span> activation may be rate limited.\r\n\r\nLet's Encrypt has a <strong>Duplicate Certificate<\/strong> limit of 5 certificates per week. A certificate is considered a duplicate of an earlier certificate if they contain the exact same set of hostnames, ignoring capitalization and ordering of hostnames. For instance, if you requested a certificate for the names [www.example.com, example.com], you could request four more certificates for [www.example.com, example.com] during the week.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"mailto:support@xneelo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us<\/a>\u00a0for assistance.\r\n<h2>Mixed Content<\/h2>\r\nDoes your website load with the https:\/\/ prefix, yet some content, such as images, appears broken or there are error messages referring to <strong>Mixed Content<\/strong>?\r\n\r\nIf yes, these are indications that <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span> is activated for your website, but some web content is loading via HTTP rather than HTTPS. \u00a0Follow our tutorial to fix the errors: <a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/website\/mixed-content-errors-https\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mixed Content errors with HTTPS<\/a>\r\n<h2>SiteBuilder<\/h2>\r\nAlthough <span >SSL\/TLS<\/span> is automatically enabled for SiteBuilder websites, the site may not successfully load via HTTPS. Refer to the .<a href=\"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/control-panel\/force-https-using-a-htaccess-file\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">htaccess<\/a> guide for details on how to correct this error."},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While SSL is now enabled by default for all xneelo-hosted websites, here are a few reasons that may cause it not to work<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lsx_disable_title":"0","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[17087,17090,267],"topics":[10463],"class_list":["post-17623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-website","tag-ssl-not-working","tag-ssl-tls","tag-ssl","topics-website-problems"],"acf":[],"additional_meta":{"category_title":[{"term_id":166,"name":"Website","slug":"website","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":166,"taxonomy":"category","description":"About your Website(s)","parent":0,"count":169,"filter":"raw","term_order":"120","cat_ID":166,"category_count":169,"category_description":"About your Website(s)","cat_name":"Website","category_nicename":"website","category_parent":0}],"tag_title":[{"term_id":17087,"name":"ssl not working","slug":"ssl-not-working","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":17087,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","term_order":"2423"},{"term_id":17090,"name":"ssl\/tls","slug":"ssl-tls","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":17090,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","term_order":"2424"},{"term_id":267,"name":"ssl","slug":"ssl","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":267,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":14,"filter":"raw","term_order":"3021"}]},"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"marketing","author_link":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/author\/marketing\/","author_avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6ea315e112423b2b955cb020fbce2b0835956c6ad85ff0f13f1db298977eaaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17623"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=17623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}