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# Guide to Installing a Custom SSL Certificate (Advanced)

## This unofficial guide to installing a custom SSL certificate on a ggRock server.

### Problem

A custom SSL certificate may be desired based on company policy, or to enhance the security practices of administrators of your ggRock server.

### Solution

**WARNING:**

Future updates to the ggRock product and its dependencies have the potential to revert this change, please prepare to re-implement this change after any ggRock update or OS update is applied.

To install a custom SSL certificate, replace the certificate files in:

```
/etc/nginx/ssl/private/ggrock-self-signed.key
```

and

```
/etc/nginx/ssl/certs/ggrock-self-signed.crt
```

Once the certificate and key file are in place, simply restart the nginx service from ggRock Settings, or by using the following terminal command:

```
systemctl restart nginx
```

or reboot your server to complete the task.

### Certificate Type & Specifications
* **Certificate Type:** Self-signed SSL/TLS Certificate (X.509) managed by Nginx.
* **Format:** Both files are standard **PEM encoded** text files.
* **Encryption Type:** **RSA 2048-bit** public key with a **SHA-256** signature algorithm (`sha256WithRSAEncryption`).
* **Passphrase Status:** The active private key is **unencrypted** (no passphrase). This is a critical requirement for ggRock/Nginx, ensuring the server can reboot automatically without getting stuck waiting for manual password entry.

|| **Takeaway for Future Custom Certificates:** Any custom certificate we request or generate to replace this must mimic these properties: it must be a **PEM-formatted, unencrypted RSA key (2048-bit or higher)** to ensure seamless compatibility with the current Nginx setup.