I have been hositng site off our own dedicated server for 5 years now. I don't give my clients access to the control panel as we are thier webmasters too.

What has bothered me for a long time was the cert error that I get before the login page of the server. I finally asked about it and was told that you have to buy one so that the error won't show.

My question to you guys and gals is, do you buy a cert to get rid of the error, or do you explain to your clients that is not a bad thing to see a cert error.

Any thoughts? We are using ensim pro x and will be moving to a new control panel that allows for custom pages when you suspend an account.

Thanks for your time,

Alex

If you force SSL then you need to either buy a cert or live with it. With certificates under $20 it is not that big of a business expense.

We have clients that do both, it is an even mixture. I don't think there is anything wrong with doing it and it avoids some confusion.

I would just explain this is not a bad thing. If you were hosting hundreds of account on that box, I'd suggest getting a cert just so you don't have to deal with the question, but if it's just one (or even a few) I wouldn't recommend going through the hassle of installing an SSL cert.

Hassle? It takes under 10 minutes to do and has a very simple GUI. If anything the cost is a factor for smaller businesses but control panels these days may it pretty simple.

10 mins? Who do you get SSL certs from?

Thanks for the info everyone. When I move to a new server I will purchase a SSL for the control panel.