SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. SSL is important to protect the data moving from a User’s browser to the server. Normally, when you do not install the SSL certificate on your website, the data submitted by your customer is transferred in plain text. It means that anyone on the network can see the data. This includes credit card information and other personal information like a password.
So, It is important to have an SSL certificate on your site. Otherwise, Google Chrome will also show “not secure” in the URL bar. But, Here is where the OpenCart feature to enable SSL comes in. Whenever you install an SSL certificate on your site, Your site is still accessible on HTTP. Once you install the SSL certificate, you have to make sure none of your site URLs are loaded over the HTTP protocol. All the URLs should be accessible on HTTPS protocol only.
To do so, We have to enable redirection from HTTP to HTTPS. Normally, we have to add a piece of code in .htaccess file to achieve this. But if you are using OpenCart, you can enable SSL directly from the admin panel. In this tutorial, I will show you how to do that.
Enable SSL in OpenCart
To enable SSL in your store, Log in to the admin panel and click on the System -> Settings option just as highlighted in the following screenshot.
On this page, you will see a list of stores available in your OpenCart installation. Click on the Edit button represented by a Pen corresponding to the store to edit store specific settings.
Now, click on the Server tab and scroll down to the Security section. Under the security section, Select Yes in Use SSL option. See the following screenshot for reference.
After selecting “Yes” in the “Use SSL” directive, Click on the Save button given at the top-right corner of the page. It will apply the changes immediately.