18 Setting Up Letsencrypt On Freebsd Younis Said Haniwriter

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Title: Setup let's encrypt on FreeBSD

Excerpt: Let's Encrypt is a Certificate Authority (CA) that alleviates the process of TLS/SSL
certification. The TLS/SSL certification, in turn, serves as an indispensable element of HTTPS
authentication on an online server. In this article, how to set up let's Encrypt on FreeBSD is
explained.

Permalink: Setup-let's-encrypt-FreeBSD

Category: FreeBSD
This tutorial is about installing Let's Encrypt, a Certificate Authority (CA) that alleviates the
process of TLS/SSL certification. The TLS/SSL certification, in turn, serves as an indispensable
element of HTTPS authentication on an online server. Let's Encrypt comes with a software client
named Certbot that employs automation techniques to strips the certification process of any
intricate technicalities for the user's convenience.

In this article, we'll explain how to set up let's Encrypt on FreeBSD and list some of the
fundamentals to help you start with it.

How to install Certbot


The latest release for Certbot can be acquired by downloading and extracting the python
packages. Use the pkg command as under if you're using Python 2.7:

$ pkg install py27-certbot

And if you're using python 3.7, type in:

$ pkg install py37-certbot


The command above should install Certbot on your FreeBSD system.

Getting started with Certbot

Register Certbot
Before we begin creating certificates, we'll need a /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.ini file
for our user account. Type out the contents below in your file:

# rsa-key-size = 4096

# server = https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory

# email = [email protected]

# text = True

# agree-tos = True

# renew-by-default = True

# authenticator = standalone

Then issue the command below in the shell to register Certbot:


$ certbot register

Create a Certificate With Certbot


Creating a certificate with Certbot is as simple as it gets: use the standalone server for TLS/SSL
authentication.

However, using the standalone server means putting your web server on hold for a few
seconds. If you cannot afford to shut down the hosting service, you can create certificates with
webroot.

To create a certificate with webroot, type out the following command in the shell:

$ certbot certonly -c /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.ini -d domain.tld -d www.domain.tld

Renew certifications with Certbot


The certifications can be updated automatically with Certbot. Type in the command below to
update your certificates with Certbot.

$ certbot renew

Erasing certificates
Deleting certificates with certbot is very easy, as long as you know the exact name of the
certificate you want to be deleted. To list all the authenticated certificate
$ certbot certificates

The screenshot below shows the likely output you'll get out of this command:

The command syntax for deleting a certificate with certbot is:

$ certbot delete --cert-name domain.tld

The referenced certificate should be deleted with the command above.

Wrapping up
Ok, folks, this tutorial was about setting up Let's Encrypt on a FreeBSD system and using the
Certbot supervisor to automatically create, authenticate and remove TLS/SSL certificates.

Certbot can be vital for users who frequently have to update certificates themselves, manually,
which can be a tedious process.

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