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Let’s Encrypt SSL problem on SiteGround

This happens on the GrowBigaccount this weekend. Their documentation says the Let’s Encrypt SSL (without wildcard) should take effect immediately. Here’s the link to the doc which says it. Here’s the details story for Let’s Encrypt SSL problem on SiteGround.

It’s doesn’t work

It’s doesn’t work in my case. The popup says the Let’s Encrypt SSL has successfully installed. But after waiting for almost 24 hours, the SSL is not there. The domain is not accessible through https.

The story

Let’s go back to how I get into this situation. One of my clients asks me to set up another WordPress site on his account. His SiteGround account is on  GrowBig** ** plan.

But he buys the domain somewhere else. Therefore, I only need to point out that domain to Siteground using the  **A ** record. It works perfectly at this point.

That domain is showing on the SiteGround dashboard in seconds. 

The client asks to set up this new domain with a new WordPress site with SSL. So, it makes sense to set up the  https  for the domain first.

It’s the second domain  on Siteground. There’s another WordPress site which is using the primary domain on Siteground. It’s been running for years without any problem. 

I am sure this won’t be a problem. The SiteGround account is on  GrowBig plan. That plan allows us to host  Unlimited websites. Here is  the reference.

The problem begins

When I open the cPanel, I see the  Let’s Encrypt icon. I click it and see the primary domain (the previous one) is already using the SSL. At this point, I only need to set up for this second domain. 

The user interface is clear. I only need to choose the domain. Then, click  the Install button. And, here’s the popup after I click it.

Their documentation says the installation will take effect immediately. It’s not happening here. So I decided to give a try their live chat feature. 

Live chat is waiting forever

They provide live chat channel. It says the waiting time is 5 mins. Not very long. I decided to try and wait at this point.

I don’t see any agent answers after  15 minutes . Tired of waiting, I close the window and try again. Now it says that  I am already on another chat so I can’t open a new one .

Go through the support ticket

I try to create a support ticket for the problem because of the live chat failed. Here’s the initial response.

There are currently too many unsuccessful issuing attempts. The time out is usually around an hour. Once that time has passed we will attempt to install the certificate and update you on the matter.

It looks like they have a problem with setting up Let’s Encrypt SSL for the new domain. There’s still no more updates after two hours have passed.

The site with the primary domain is down!

They give me another problem instead of solving the Let’s Encrypt problem. The site that’s using the primary domain is suddenly down. 

Because it’s down at the time when there are many visitors are visiting the site, I have no choice but to open another ticket.

They get it up after  **25 minutes ** downtime. Their reasoning this time is:  Your PHP version had to be adjusted to PHP 7.1.6. 

But, t hat site never gets down for years. It’s suddenly down some minutes  after I open a ticket to fix the Let’s Encrypt SSL issue on the second domain. Is it just a coincidence? I don’t know.

Updates on SSL problem

They update the outstanding ticket for  Let’s Encrypt SSL problem several minutes later. They asked me to remove the two AAAA records for the domain. It causes failure to set up Let’s Encrypt SSL for the domain because they are using the IPv6.

I do their request. I remove those two records. Then, after making sure it has propagated and those records are not there, I try to set up the Let’s Encrypt SSL again.

Does it work now? Nope.  It still failed this time.  Since it’s already too late and it’s on weekend, I decide to try again tomorrow noon.

Finally, it is working

Almost 24 hours later, on Sunday afternoon, I get an e-mail from SiteGround for the ticket updates. I open that ticket and one of their staffs says the Let’s Encrypt SSL has installed correctly on the domain.

When I check it up, I confirm I can access that https://domain.com correctly.

Verdicts

It looks like the Let’s Encrypt SSL is not working well on SiteGround. At least, from what I’ve gone through, it’s not working immediately. For my case, it needs at least 48 hours to get it set up correctly. Probably, this is just for the second domain? Or anyone has the same experience for the primary domain?

Here are some threads about Let’s Encrypt problem with SiteGround: 

I found them when I fired up a search on Google with  Let’s Encrypt Sitegroundkeyword.

The take away for you

When you set up Let’s Encrypt SSL on SiteGround, make sure there are no DNS records that are using IPv6 format. SiteGround support staff tells me they don’t support IPv6 records at the time I write this.


Categories: Web Hosting  

Tags: Let's Encrypt SSL   security   VeeroTech vs SiteGround