An SSL Certificate is what makes a website appear secure. Without one, many browsers report that a website is unsafe and warn visitors that it is unsafe requiring them to click additional links just to get to the site they are looking for. So, it is a hassle for viewers and it can be a hassle for website developers as well.
I setup the original certificate through let’s encrypt which require me to generate a file and place it on a DNS record with the DNS provider. Since these expire, about a month ago, I started trying to renew it. but I wasn’t having much luck. First we have an old version of PHP which I have not been able to update and I think that limited the automatic method which would typically be used, so I had to go back to the manual method which is what I did before. The problem is or seemed to be that the DNS was purchased from a popular DNS provider and it seems they want to restrict access to create DNS records on external servers. I think this is likely motivated by them wanting you to pay them for an SSL certificate or some other product.
About a month later and some significant time invested, I was able to find an alternative. We are using a free service which provides some encryption and an SSL certificate. So, the problem is solved for now.
What does that have to do with ResearchFamily.net or the topics we typically discuss here? Very little I admit, but in this modern age, unnecessary complexities can rob us of our time and energy, just think what else could have been done during this time.
All that said, Yay, we are back up, secure and ready to move on to whatever is next.