Setting up free TLS

  Last updated 2021-05-10

Customers can use our free TLS option to add TLS to a website or application using a shared Fastly domain (e.g., your-name.global.ssl.fastly.net).

Before you begin

Before you begin setting up free TLS, understand the following:

  • Free TLS uses a shared domain name and may not be suitable for a production environment if the domain name you use matters. For that, you'll need a paid TLS option.
  • When using free TLS, you cannot DNS alias your own domain (for example, www.example.org) to the shared domain. If you do, a TLS name mismatch warning will appear in the browser. The only way to avoid the mismatch error is to order a paid TLS option.
  • When using free TLS, all traffic is routed through Fastly's entire global network. If you need the ability to route traffic through specific POPs, order a paid TLS option.

Setting up free TLS for the first time

Follow the steps below to set up free TLS:

  1. Log in to the Fastly web interface.
  2. From the All services page, select the appropriate service. You can use the search box to search by ID, name, or domain.
  3. Click the Edit configuration button and then select the option to clone the active version. The Domains page appears.

  4. Click the Create domain button. The domain creation controls appear.

    the Create a domain page set up with TLS to Fastly's shared cert

  5. Fill out the domain creation fields as follows:
    • In the Domain name field, enter <name>.global.ssl.fastly.net, replacing <name> with a single word that claims the domain you're creating. You can't use a dot-separated name (e.g., www.example.org.global.ssl.fastly.net) because TLS certificates don't support nesting. If the name you choose has already been claimed, you will need to pick a different one.
    • In the Comment field, enter a human-readable name for the domain. This name appears in the Fastly web interface.
  6. Click the Create button to save the domain. The new domain appears in the list of domains.
  7. Click the Activate button to deploy your configuration changes.

Once you've set up free TLS, you'll be able to access your host domain via the https://<name>.global.ssl.fastly.net/ URL. You won't need to add CNAME records to use the shared domain certificate.

Support for HTTP/2, IPv6, and TLS 1.2

Your <name>.global.ssl.fastly.net domain name currently supports the HTTP/1.x protocols and IPv4 network addresses on Fastly's free shared domain TLS wildcard certificate. TLS 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 are all supported.

To test HTTP/2, you can use <name>.freetls.fastly.net, which is automatically made available for all Fastly free TLS services. For example, if you used example.global.ssl.fastly.net during setup, Fastly automatically created example.freetls.fastly.net with support for HTTP/2 and HTTP/1.1, as well as support for IPv6 and IPv4 network addresses. Names ending in .freetls.fastly.net require TLS 1.2.

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