How do I generate a CSR?

It depends on the platform (e.g. Unix, Windows) and web server (e.g. Apache, IIS) that you are using. Some applications might have their own methods on how to generate the CSR for their environment.

Below is an example on how to generate a CSR on an Ubuntu server running Apache web server:

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout server.key -out server.csr

You will need OpenSSL to be installed on the server. The above command will generate a new private key called server.key and a CSR (certificate request) called server.csr. The content of server.csr is the one which needs to be uploaded.

During the CSR creation, you will need to key in:

PEM pass phrase (you need to enter two times, second one for verification)
Country name, in 2-letter code format (e.g. SG for Singapore)
State of province name (e.g. Jawa Barat for Jawa Barat, Indonesia)
City (e.g. Kuala Lumpur)
Organisation name (normally your company name)
Unit name (e.g. your department's name within the company)
Common name (you can fill in the domain name of the server where the SSL certificate will be installed)
Your email address

Some CSR generator might also require you to key in a challenge password and an optional company name.

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