E-mail SSL Secure Certificate problems

Overview

Using and iPhone or iPad? Click for step-by-step instructions for Apple devices

A recent change to the way many email programs handle SSL Certificates may cause problems when trying to check your mail.

In the past, you may have configured your email program to check mail using incoming and outgoing servers such as "mail.your-domain.com" or "smtp.your-domain.com". These settings will now give SSL certificate warnings in many email programs. To fix this, do the following :

  1. Find the name of the server your email is hosted on. To do this, login to your control panel and look at the address listed in the address bar. It will be something like cp-server-name.phpwebhosting.com - Your server name is the name with "cp-" removed from the start. For example, if the address bar showed "cp-jupiter.phpwebhosting.com" your server name would be "jupiter.phpwebhosting.com"

    2. Note: Some clients with advanced mail needs may be on a server such as m100.phpwebhosting.com, m101.phpwebhosting.com, etc. - If you recall your mail being moved to one of these servers, use that (m100.phpwebhosting.com, etc.) as your server name and not your-server.phpwebhosting.com

  2. Open your email program's setings and edit your "incoming" and "outgoing" servers. Change occurrences of "mail.your-domain.com" or "smtp.your-domain.com" to your exact phpwebhosting.com server name from step 1. Do not put "mail" or "smtp" at the start of the name. Use only your-server.phpwebhosting.com


    3. Step-by-step instructions for Apple devices


  3. Save your changed email settings

Why did this occur?

Your email is hosted on mail servers whose "real" names are the internal names that we assign to the servers (ie. something.phpwebhosting.com). Newer versions of email clients require that the name on a secure certificate match the actual server name exactly.

Can I get a mail certificate for my domain name?

Yes, however this is usually an unnecessary expense. Email SSL certificates are not seen by your clients and end-users. They only govern the communication between mail servers. Please contact support if you would like to purchase and setup an email certificate for your domain name.