Website SSL cert renewal

[molinari]

I hope I’m posting this in the right place, this isn't something I've previously dealt with.

We have a website with an SSL certificate. Last year it expired so we had to get a new cert then install that onto the servers before all was good again. This year, we don’t plan on letting it expire! It is due for automatic renewal in a few weeks, and automatic renewal, I’m assuming, just means the issuer (IONOS) automatically generates a new cert for us to use? We would then have to download that and upload to the server? If it expires at 9am, will users see security connection warning from 9am until we’ve uploaded the new SSL cert?

I was hoping to renew it early in order to make sure we don’t have any issues, but if I manually renew the certificate early, what happens to the existing one? Does it continue to work until its expiry even though a new one has been issued, or do we have to upload the new certificate files immediately to the servers to avoid issues? Will the new cert be valid from the time I manually renew it up to the original expiry date, and then for the following year that we’ve purchased it for?

Lots of questions, sorry, but I want to understand this fully.
Thanks.

 

[molinari]

If I could move to a host with a free SSL cert I would, but I can't, and I can't automate the process either.
Anyway, thanks for the replies. So, if I renew/buy the new cert now, the old one will continue to work up until its expiry date and time, that's easy. However, am I able to upload the new cert before expiry of the old cert, or does it have to be done on the hour of expiry of the old one? Basically, does the new cert have a valid date of when it was purchased, or of when the old one is due to expire? Thanks again!!