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How to obtain your CSR

Your CSR - Certificate Signing Request - needs to be generated on your server before you begin your application process. If you're comfortable with technical instructions, then Thawte provide a list of key generation instructions for various types of web server software. If you are requesting a JavaSoft certificate, see this page.

If those pages make no sense to you, you'll probably need to contact your IS/IT department or your webmaster to produce your CSR for you.

In general, the CSR will start with

----- BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST -----

and end with

----- END CERTIFICATE REQUEST -----

- between those two lines will be a further 15 lines or so of what looks like complete gibberish. Don't worry, it's supposed to look like that! If you've been given something which looks significantly different to that, you might want to check with us first before you place your application.

If you are applying for a server certificate -- any kind -- or for a Javasoft certificate, please note that you must have the signing request in hand before you start the application process -- you cannot start the process and then give us the signing request later.

Note that if you are applying for an Extended Validation certificate you will generally need a signing request with at least a 2048-bit key. For any other type of certificate, a 1024-bit key is Thawte's current minimum requirement (though you may use a longer key if you would prefer to do so).

Last updated: October 14th 2009
Last checked: October 14th 2009