1. A computer implemented method, comprising: receiving from a client, by a processing device, a user request to activate a network appliance; transmitting, by the processing device, a network appliance identifier and a transaction identifier which uniquely identifies an activation transaction associated with the user request, wherein the network appliance identifier and the transaction identifier are received by the client and by the network appliance; receiving, by the processing device, a certificate signing request (CSR) and the transaction identifier from the network appliance, the CSR comprising the network appliance identifier; and generating, by the processing device, a certificate for the network appliance when the activation transaction is valid.