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In theory 8 hours of downtime should be fine for a CA. Obviously not ideal, but the pki system is not meant to be a live system.

Fairly sure it used to be pretty much a manual process where someone had to actually process your request for a certificate on the other side.

Yes, and it's not that long ago, or I aged really quickly.

For code signing certificates and EV certificates, (and OV certificates, if they are even alive), this is still the case.

It's been 11 years now since Lets Encrypt started with automated certs. EV certs I think died a long time ago.