How to Create a .PEM file for SSL Certificate Installation

.PEM SSL Creation Instructions

SSL .pem files (for our purposes, concatenated certificate files), are frequently required for certificate installations when multiple certificates are being imported as one file.

The following sets of instructions walk through creating some of the various files that could be called for if your server requires a .pem ssl certificate.

Creating a .pem with the Entire SSL Certificate Trust Chain

  1. Log in to download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt), Root (TrustedRoot.crt), and Primary Certificates (your_domain_name.crt) from within your DigiCert Customer Account.

  2. Open a text editor (such as wordpad) and paste the entire body of each certificate into one text file in the following order:

    1. The Primary Certificate - your_domain_name.crt
    2. The Intermediate Certificate - DigiCertCA.crt
    3. The Root Certificate - TrustedRoot.crt

    Make sure to include the beginning and end tags on each certificate. The result should look like this:

    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Primary SSL certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Intermediate certificate: DigiCertCA.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Root certificate: TrustedRoot.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----

    Save the combined file as your_domain_name.pem. Your .pem file is now ready for use.

Creating a .pem with the Server and Intermediate Certificates

  1. Log in to download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt) and Primary Certificates (your_domain_name.crt) from within your DigiCert Customer Account.

  2. With a text editor (such as wordpad), copy and paste the entire body of each certificate into one text file in the following order:

    1. The Primary Certificate - your_domain_name.crt
    2. The Intermediate Certificate - DigiCertCA.crt

    Make sure to include the beginning and end tags on each certificate. The result should look like this:

    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Primary SSL certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Intermediate certificate: DigiCertCA.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----

    Save the combined file as your_domain_name.pem. Your .pem file should be ready for use.

Creating a .pem to include your private key and entire trust chain

  1. Log in to download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt) and Primary Certificates (your_domain_name.crt) from within your DigiCert Customer Account.

  2. With a text editor (such as wordpad), copy and paste the entire body of each certificate into one text file in the following order:

    1. The Private Key - your_domain_name.key
    2. The Primary Certificate - your_domain_name.crt
    3. The Intermediate Certificate - DigiCertCA.crt
    4. The Root Certificate - TrustedRoot.crt

    Make sure to include the beginning and end tags on each certificate. The result should look like this:

    -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    (Your Private Key: your_domain_name.key)
    -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Primary SSL certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Intermediate certificate: DigiCertCA.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Root certificate: TrustedRoot.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----

    Save the combined file as your_domain_name.pem. Your .pem file should be ready for use.

Creating your .pem file

Learn how to concatenate multiple ssl certificate files into one .pem file.

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