Cspace certificates

This article will help you add a custom domain or certificate via Cspace.

We will demonstrate to you:

• How to add a custom domain or certificate.
• How to update a custom domain or certificate.

How to add custom domain or certificate

1. Login to your Cspace.

2. On the Dashboard, Select your instance plan.

3. Click on configuration and click + icon under Certificate Management tab.

   

   Before proceeding further, make sure that you have added a CNAME entry in your DNS pointing to the custom domain you want to add to the cidaas domain displayed. Example: widas-test.cidaas.eu

4. Click on next and enter your custom domain, and click on verify.

   • We verify the domain is pointing to our cname; if it is not, you will be notified; otherwise, If it is pointing to our cname, it will let you continue with the setup.

   Next, it will ask you if you want to upload a custom certificate for this domain. If you want to entrust us with the certificate management, you have to do nothing else and just save the domain without uploading a custom certificate. Then we will create a certificate for you via Letsencrypt and manage the certificate lifecycle on our own.

If you want to use a custom certificate, you will have to update it yourself. We have demonstrated it for you in the next section.

How to update your custom certificate

1. Login to your Cspace.

2. On the Dashboard, Select your instance plan.

   

3. Click on configuration and click on edit icon under Certificate Management tab.

   

4. Update all the required certificates.

   

Component	Description	Purpose / Role	Issued By	Stored Where
Root Certificate	The top-most certificate in a certificate chain. It is self-signed and trusted by systems implicitly or via manual installation.	Serves as the trust anchor for all other certificates in the chain. Verifies intermediate and leaf certificates.	Self-signed (Root CA)	OS/browser trust store
Intermediate Certificate	A certificate issued by the Root CA (or another intermediate CA) to create a chain of trust.	Acts as a bridge between the root certificate and the leaf certificate. Adds a layer of security by isolating root CA from end-user operations.	Root CA or another Intermediate CA	Installed on servers or client systems
Leaf Certificate	The end-entity certificate used by websites or services. Also known as the server certificate or end-entity certificate.	Authenticates a specific domain or user. Used in HTTPS (SSL/TLS) to secure connections.	Intermediate CA	On the web server or client device
Key (Private/Public)	Cryptographic keys used to encrypt/decrypt data. Comes in pairs: private (kept secret) and public (shared).	Private Key signs data; Public Key verifies signature. The private key is bound to the leaf certificate.	Generated during CSR process	Private key: secure server location Public key: in certificate

PEM Certificate & Key Format Markers

Type	Start Marker	End Marker	Description
Root / Intermediate / Leaf Certificate	-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----	-----END CERTIFICATE-----	Base64-encoded X.509 certificate (used for SSL/TLS). Can be root, intermediate, or leaf cert.
Private Key (unencrypted)	-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----	-----END PRIVATE KEY-----	PKCS#8 format private key (can be RSA, EC, etc.)

Example: Leaf Certificate

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIDXTCCAkWgAwIBAgIJAK5tXYv1eqksMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMEUxCzAJBgNV
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Notes

• These are always Base64-encoded DER representations of the certificate or key.
• They’re used in many systems like Apache, Nginx, Kubernetes, OpenSSL, etc.
• Tools like openssl can convert between PEM and DER (binary) formats if needed.

How to verify the successful update

Each certificate is digitally signed by its issuer. For example: It verifies that the intermediate certificate’s signature matches the root CA’s public key, and so on.

1. The root certificate is checked against the client’s trusted CA list.
2. If the root is trusted → the chain is valid. Domain match: The domain the client connected to must match the Common Name or SAN in the leaf certificate.

Time validity: Current date must be within the Not Before and Not After range.

How you can check

1. Open the Website (your domain)
2. Click the Padlock Icon
3. View Certificate Details

Help and support

Please contact us directly on our support page.