This article describes how to use our ACME-enabled SSL certificate and our DNS Service with Certify The Web (a commercial SSL/TLS certificate management tool) using the Certify DNS cloud-hosted service.
Before configuring the application, make sure you have the following information:
- Sectigo ACME Endpoint:
https://acme.sectigo.com/v2/DV - Sectigo EAB Credentials: The External Account Binding Key ID (KID) and HMAC Key found in your DDNS certificate order.
- Certify DNS License Key: The license key purchased under your Certify The Web Profile.
Configure Sectigo as your Certificate Authority (CA)
- Open Certify Certificate Manager.
- Navigate to Settings > Certificate Authorities.
- Click Add New ACME Account or select Sectigo from the built-in CA list.
- Go to the Advanced tab in the account dialog.
- Check the box for External Account Binding (EAB) and enter your Sectigo KID and HMAC Key.
- Click Save/Register to link the client to your Sectigo account.
Set Up Certify DNS Validation
- Go to Settings > Stored Credentials in the Certify app.
- Add a new credential and choose Certify DNS as the provider.
- Enter your Account Email Address as the API Username.
- Enter your Certify DNS License Key as the API Key. Save the credentials.
Create and Authorise your Certificate
- Click New Certificate in the main dashboard.
- Select your site or manually add the domains / wildcards you want to secure.
- Under the Certificate > Advanced tab, explicitly select Sectigo as your Certificate Authority (if it is not your default).
- Move to the Authorization tab:
- Change the challenge type to DNS-01.
- Select Certify DNS as the DNS update method.
- Select the Certify DNS credential you stored in Step 3.
Perform the Initial CNAME Setup (One-time Task)
- Click Request Certificate to trigger the initial registration workflow.
- The initial request will pause or prompt you, generating a unique alias URL.
- Log into your Plesk hosting control panel.
- Go to DNS Settings, Add record, select CNAME as the type:
- Name:
_acme-challenge.yourdomain.com - Target: (The unique
.certifydns.comstring provided by the app log)
- Name:
- Delete any old, conflicting
_acme-challengeTXT records in your zone.
Issue and Automate
- Return to Certify The Web and hit Request Certificate again.
- Sectigo will ask for validation → Certify DNS will host the TXT token dynamically → Sectigo will issue the SSL certificate.
- The certificate will auto-bind to your web server (such as IIS or Nginx)
From this point forward, renewals are completely hands-free. Sectigo will routinely call the ACME endpoint, and Certify DNS will handle the DNS records automatically over the CNAME without ever needing access to your main DNS registrar account.