diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0e088955..a4ce4015 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,7 +9,5 @@ data/conf/postfix/sql
 data/conf/dovecot/sql
 data/web/inc/vars.local.inc.php
 data/assets/ssl/*
-data/assets/ssl/key.pem
-data/assets/ssl/cert.pem
 .vscode/*
 data/web/.well-known/acme-challenge
diff --git a/data/assets/ssl/ca-key.pem b/data/assets/ssl-example/ca-key.pem
similarity index 100%
rename from data/assets/ssl/ca-key.pem
rename to data/assets/ssl-example/ca-key.pem
diff --git a/data/assets/ssl/ca.pem b/data/assets/ssl-example/ca.pem
similarity index 100%
rename from data/assets/ssl/ca.pem
rename to data/assets/ssl-example/ca.pem
diff --git a/data/assets/ssl/cert.pem b/data/assets/ssl-example/cert.pem
similarity index 100%
rename from data/assets/ssl/cert.pem
rename to data/assets/ssl-example/cert.pem
diff --git a/data/assets/ssl/dhparams.pem b/data/assets/ssl-example/dhparams.pem
similarity index 100%
rename from data/assets/ssl/dhparams.pem
rename to data/assets/ssl-example/dhparams.pem
diff --git a/data/assets/ssl/key.pem b/data/assets/ssl-example/key.pem
similarity index 100%
rename from data/assets/ssl/key.pem
rename to data/assets/ssl-example/key.pem
diff --git a/generate_config.sh b/generate_config.sh
index 997d831a..bba3affc 100755
--- a/generate_config.sh
+++ b/generate_config.sh
@@ -79,3 +79,6 @@ COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=mailcow-dockerized
 ADDITIONAL_SAN=
 
 EOF
+
+# copy but don't overwrite existing certificate
+cp -n data/assets/ssl-example/*.pem data/assets/ssl/