Tips to keep your website’s domain and SSL up to date
Any beginner website owner should know that no website can work properly without two things – a domain name and an SSL certificate. A website’s domain is a unique name by which users can access it as an alternative to typing an IP address. A domain is easier to remember and use, and the website is accessible by it even if its IP address or hosting has changed.
In its turn, Secure Sockets Layer protocol, abbreviated as SSL, provides encryption for information transfer between browser and the server. This protects the website from intruders, and the loss of the important data. Websites without an SSL certificate are literally persona non grata on the World Wide Web. Browsers consider them insecure, and search engines downgrade them in search queries.
SSL and domain usage for websites
As it was mentioned, a domain is a primary thing you need to register for your website. Yet there is one thing to keep in mind. You can’t buy a domain name forever. You can only lease it from registrars. Those organizations are authorized to create and renew domain names. Thus you must renew the lease, usually once a year. If you do not renew the domain in time, visitors will not be able to enter the website.
After 30 days overdue, anyone can redeem your domain name. People tend to quickly buy and use domains that belong to popular websites to advertise various services, so you need to renew in advance. And some registrars have auto prolongation or auto payment. But usually that is not a problem. When the time comes to renew the registration, registar should send you a notification.
SSL certificates, as it was mentioned as well, are the main security for websites. Because there are cybercriminals all over the Internet, who could steal important information. And to ensure the website’s safety, you must buy an SSL certificate and renew it after some time as well as you do it with websites’ domain name. Otherwise your website will be marked as insecure.
SSL and domain renewal monitoring
Domain name and SSL registrars are required to inform customers that registrations expire on a certain date. At least two times before the expiration date. However, this does not always happen. Often it is due to spam notifications. If you want to be as safe as possible from these kinds of problems, you need to constantly monitor the status of the domain and security certificate.
Sad, but true – it is practically unreal to do this on your own. Sooner or later you will still forget to check their validity. Therefore, you need to automate the process. And one of the best options is to use services for automated website monitoring. For example, you can use the functionality of the HostTracker service.
It is easy to set up domain name and SSL certificate verification in this service. And after completing the setup, you can be sure that you will definitely not miss the deadline.System will inform you about the need to renew the domain and SSL in a timely manner using the chosen method varying from SMS to Telegram. In addition, you can combine this option with a regular check of the site for stability and availability this system can also perform.
