I wanted to share my recent experience setting up SSL for the panel using a custom domain (server.theratmobile.com) — and honestly, it was far more painful than it should be.
Here’s the issue:
- I set a valid domain for the panel
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- Enabled SSL as instructed
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- Got a message saying the domain was not connected to the "Domain Management Center" and certificate installation wasn't possible
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- There was no option to “use website certificate” like before
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- I ended up manually creating a dummy website, issuing a Let's Encrypt cert, deleting the self-signed panel certs, symlinking the site cert to /www/server/panel/ssl/, and restarting the panel just to get a secure connection
That’s a ridiculous amount of steps just to get HTTPS working on the control panel.
My feedback:
Bring back the “use website certificate” option — or auto-detect existing certs
Stop tying panel SSL to the “Domain Management Center” — most people use their own DNS (Cloudflare, Spaceship, etc.)
Document the manual cert method clearly, if it’s the only option
Make SSL for the panel as easy as SSL for websites — it should be one click
I spent half a day trying to figure this out. No regular user would be able to figure this out. I am just about over my experiment with aaPanel.
