SSL Certificate Configuration

Configuring SSL certificates is crucial for ensuring secure communication over the internet. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up SSL certificates using Dehydrated and Let's Encrypt, including steps for setting up domain redirects and handling the Acme challenge.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• A registered domain name
• Access to your domain's DNS settings
• A server running a Unix-like operating system (e.g., Linux)
• Basic knowledge of command-line operations

Step 1: Install Dehydrated

Dehydrated is a lightweight client for Let's Encrypt. To install it, follow these steps:

# Clone the Dehydrated repository
git clone https://github.com/dehydrated-io/dehydrated.git
cd dehydrated

# Make the script executable
chmod +x dehydrated

Step 2: Configure Dehydrated

Create a configuration file for Dehydrated:

# Create a configuration directory
mkdir -p /etc/dehydrated

# Copy the example configuration file
cp docs/examples/config /etc/dehydrated/config

Edit the /etc/dehydrated/config file to set your domain and other preferences. Below is an example configuration:

CA="https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
CHALLENGETYPE="http-01"
DOMAINS_TXT="/etc/dehydrated/domains.txt"

Step 3: Set Up Domains

Create a domains.txt file to specify the domains for which you want to obtain SSL certificates:

# Create the domains.txt file
nano /etc/dehydrated/domains.txt

# Add your domains (one per line)
example.com www.example.com

Step 4: Handle the Acme Challenge

The Acme challenge is used by Let's Encrypt to verify domain ownership. For the http-01 challenge, you need to serve a specific file over HTTP. Configure your web server to serve the challenge files from a specific directory.

For Nginx, add the following location block to your server configuration:

location /.well-known/acme-challenge/ {
    alias /var/www/dehydrated;
}

Create the challenge directory:

mkdir -p /var/www/dehydrated

Step 5: Obtain the SSL Certificate

Run Dehydrated to obtain your SSL certificate:

# Run Dehydrated
dehydrated -c

Step 6: Configure Your Web Server

Finally, configure your web server to use the obtained SSL certificate. For Nginx, update your server block as follows:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/dehydrated/certs/example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/dehydrated/certs/example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        # Your existing configuration
    }
}

Step 7: Set Up Automatic Renewal

SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt are valid for 90 days. To automatically renew your certificates, set up a cron job:

# Open the crontab file
crontab -e

# Add the following line to run Dehydrated daily at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /path/to/dehydrated -c >> /var/log/dehydrated.log 2>&1

By following these steps, you will have successfully configured SSL certificates for your domain using Dehydrated and Let's Encrypt. For further details, refer to the Full Transcription and Technical Terms Glossary pages.