For instructions on how to use your own, self-generated certificate with Teramind, check out this article.
Step 1: Generate the CSR
First, you need to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). You can do so at:
csrgenerator.com.Submit the CSR to your certificate provider such as GoDaddy. On the provider's site, paste in that CSR generated.
Specify the web server (Apache, IIS, etc.).
In case of GoDaddy, choose other (for nginx), and then it will let you download two files. One of these will be the GoDaddy root CA key, the other will be the public key.
In the CSR you originally created, copy just the private key, and paste that into a new file.
Step 2: Upload the certificates to your Teramind server
Understanding the Certificate Components
Before you add the certificates, it's a good idea to understand what each dashboard field actually is, its expected format, and whether it's required. The table below explains these fields:
Dashboard Field | What It Actually Is | Format | Required |
Private Key | Your server's private key | PEM: | Yes |
Public Key | Your server's certificate (the signed cert, not a raw public key) | PEM: | Yes |
Intermediate | Intermediate CA certificate(s) that signed your server cert | PEM: one or more | Strongly recommended |
Root CA | Root CA certificate, the trust anchor at the top of the chain | PEM: | Optional |
Pass phrase | Passphrase for decrypting the key - if the private key is encrypted | Text | Only if key is encrypted |
All values must be PEM-encoded. No passphrase on the private key. Without intermediates, browsers and agents may fail chain validation; root CA is optional since clients already carry it in their trust store (useful as a safety net for private CA or air-gapped endpoints).
Do the following to upload the certificates:
1. Login to your Teramind Dashboard (e.g., https://10.22.44.2/v2) and navigate to the Configurations > Settings > Security tab.
2. Under the Hostname section, in the Hostname field, enter the commonName from your certificate signing request. Click the Save changes button to save the hostname.
3. Under the SSL section, Click Select file button under each key to upload the appropriate keys from your certificate provider (e.g., GoDaddy). For example, private.key for the Private Key, public.crt for the Public Key, rootCA.pem for the Root CA Key, etc.
4. Enter Pass phrase only if the private key is encrypted.
5. Click the Validate keys button. If the certificate chain files are valid, you will see a "Validation successful” message:
6. Click the Save keys button to save the keys.
7. Click See details to view the details of the uploaded keys:
