What is a CSR and a private key?
A CSR or Certificate Signing Request is a text file that contains information about your domain name and organization. It is required by the Certificate Authority (CA) to issue an SSL certificate for your website. A CSR also includes a public key that is generated along with a private key on the server. The public key is used to encrypt data and the private key is used to decrypt it.
A private key is a secret sequence of characters that is used to decrypt data that is encrypted with a public key. A public key is a matching sequence of characters that is used to encrypt data and is included in your CSR and SSL certificate. Together, they form a pair of keys that enable secure communication between your website and your visitors.