SSL Certificates - blame

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f1ce9c	Dave LeBlanc	2026-10-27 06:02:24
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# SSL Certificates

[LetsEncrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started/) is an easy, free way to have X.509 (SSL) Certificates on a web server. Rather than install the certificate files manually, they provide a handy utility that will download a cert, configure Apache, and install the certificate on an ongoing basis.

1. Install Certbot.

Run this command on the command line on the machine to install Certbot.

d26a5d	Dave LeBlanc	2026-11-12 15:38:05
SSL Certificates updated on Thu Nov 12 15:37:42 2026

   `sudo zypper install certbot python-certbot-apache` (or the appropriate Linux package manager command)

f1ce9c	Dave LeBlanc	2026-10-27 06:02:24
new page

2. Choose how you'd like to run Certbot

      * Either get and install your certificates...

      Run this command to get a certificate and have Certbot edit your Apache configuration automatically to serve it, turning on HTTPS access in a single step.

`sudo certbot --apache`

      * Or, just get a certificate

      If you're feeling more conservative and would like to make the changes to your Apache configuration by hand, run this command.

`sudo certbot certonly --apache`

3. Set up automatic renewal

   We recommend running the following line, which will add a cron job to the default crontab.

d34ba7	Dave LeBlanc	2026-11-12 15:37:35
SSL Certificates updated on Thu Nov 12 15:32:43 2026

    echo "0 0,12 * * * root python -c 'import random; import time; time.sleep(random.random() * 3600)' \

&& certbot renew" | sudo tee -a /etc/crontab > /dev/null

5. Confirm that Certbot worked

   To confirm that your site is set up properly, visit *https://yourwebsite.com/* in your browser and look for the lock icon in the URL bar.  

If you want to check that you have the top-of-the-line installation, you can head to https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/.