Certbot

Certbot is a tool that allows you to manage the Transport Layer Security (TLS) of your Webserver.

Let's Encrypt

We used to run certificates from StartSSL because they offer free one-year certificates. However, today we upgraded to using 'LetsEncrypt' and our certificates are both more secure and easier to manage. Instead of a "B" grade, we now have "A" grade security.

Certbot (code) is a fully-featured, extensible client for the Let's Encrypt CA (or any other CA that speaks the ACME protocol) that can automate the tasks of obtaining certificates and configuring web servers to use them. This client runs on Unix-based operating systems. It requires root access and is beta software.

Until May 2016, Certbot was named simply letsencrypt or letsencrypt-auto, depending on install method. Instructions on the Internet, and some pieces of the software, may still refer to this older name.

Certbot website at EFF.org (the Electronic Frontier Foundation).

Service

Using our Ansible role, we can install the certbot client. Then we can install as many certificates as needed; plus setup an automated job which will renew them every 90 days.

Resources

1. https://letsencrypt.org/getinvolved/ Get Involved with Lets Encrypt
   1. https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started/ Getting Started
   2. https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt Code on GitHub
   3. https://letsencrypt.readthedocs.org/en/latest/ Docs
2. Apache docs
3. Ubuntu Server Guide - Certificates and Security
4. Ansible role for LetsEncrypt

FAQ

How do I obtain a new certificate?

1. setup the SSL virtual host in Apache, and be sure to include some SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile directives using the "snake-oil" certs.
   e.g.
   SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
   SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
   
2. Then run certbot
   /opt/certbot/certbot-auto --apache -d example.org,www.example.org,wiki.example.org --dry-run
   /opt/certbot/certbot-auto --apache -d example.org,www.example.org,wiki.example.org

What certs do I have?

sudo /opt/certbot/certbot-auto certificates

How do I expand a cert to include some sub-domains? (wildcard certs are not supported)

sudo /opt/certbot/certbot-auto certonly --cert-name example.org --expand -d example.org,www.example.org,wiki.example.org,example.com,www.example.com,wiki.example.com

How do I cleanup my old/test certificates?

sudo /opt/certbot/certbot-auto revoke --cert-path /etc/letsencrypt/live/baz.example.org/cert.pem

sudo /opt/certbot/certbot-auto delete --cert-name baz.example.org

Electronic Frontier Foundation https://eff.org

Secure Sockets Layer = secure (encrypted) underpinning for HTTP