Google Managed Certificate with ip address

Question

I am tryin to create a Google Managed SSL Certificate for my compute engine instance. However, I am required to enter a domain. The issue is, I do not have a domain associated with my instance, I only have its external ip address.

How can I use the ip address of my instance for the certificate, or how do I associate it with a domain?

Answer 1

You might be confusing what Google is asking for.

In order to create an SSL certificate, you must own / manage /control a domain name.

Next, in order to use the SSL certificate that Google created (or by other means such as Let's Encrypt), you map the Google Service, such as a load balancer, to a backend such as Google Compute Engine VM instances.

If your goal is to create an SSL certificate using an IP address - you cannot. SSL certificates require a domain name. There are exceptions to this, such as using a machine name to create a self signed certificate, but this does not apply to your situation.

Another important item. Once you create a Google Managed SSL certificate, you cannot use it on your VM instance. You can only use it for Google managed services such as Load Balancer. The Load Balancer will then sit in front of your VM instance.

If your goal is to create an SSL certificate that you can install on your VM instance, look into Let's Encrypt . Let's Encrypt is simple to work with and their certificates are free. You will still need to own a domain name, but you will be able to control where it is installed.

Once you install a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, you modify the DNS servers that your domain registrar setup to point your domain name to an IP address.