Apply for Free Multi-Domain SSL Certificates Provided by TrustOcean

TrustOcean™ SSL is a new lightweight brand under Xi'an Qiaoke Information Technology Co., Ltd. that provides trustworthy, developer-friendly PKI/CA SSL digital certificate services. Although the company was recently established, it currently offers free wildcard and multi-domain certificates with a validity period of only 3 months. After expiration, reapplication is required. This article shares the application process.

Registration

Account Registration

Registration URL: https://console.trustocean.com/
Ensure that the information provided is valid and accurate to avoid any issues.

Generating CSR File

Unlike the user-friendly free SSL certificates provided by Alibaba and Tencent, TrustOcean requires the submission of a CSR file. You can use the CSR File Online Generator to generate the file, as shown in the screenshot below.

CSR File Generation

After generating the file, please keep your CSR and KEY files safe as they will be required later.

Applying for SSL Certificate

Log in to the TrustOcean dashboard, go to "Manage Certificates," and select "Free SSL Certificates" to place an order (free of charge).

Order Placement

TrustOcean's SSL certificates support up to 250 domains. However, the more domains you have, the more complicated the application process becomes. Each domain requires DNS verification, and when applying for the CSR, you also need to provide information for multiple domains. It is generally recommended to keep it to around 3 domains.

Domain List

In "My Orders," select "Upload Previously Generated CSR Code" and enter the CSR file content that was generated earlier. In the "Domain List" section, enter the domains for which the CSR file was generated, and proceed to the next step.

Order Submission

Follow the instructions to complete the DNS resolution at your domain registrar (DNS provider). After completing the resolution, don't forget to click "Save & Submit" at the bottom. Once the resolution is correct, the certificate will usually be issued within a few minutes.

DNS Resolution

Merging Certificates

After the certificate is issued, download it from the dashboard. Taking Nginx as an example, there will be a file named START-xiaoz-me.pem, which is the certificate file (already merged with the certificate chain). You can rename it with an appropriate extension, such as .crt. The private key file was generated when you applied for the CSR and can be saved as a file with the .key extension. This way, you will have a complete SSL certificate.

Download Certificate

Conclusion

TrustOcean, like Let's Encrypt, supports wildcard, multi-domain, and ECC certificates. The advantage is that you don't need a VPS to complete the application process, but the downside is that the validity period is only 3 months.