How to install Let's Encrypt on Apache running Ubuntu 16.04

erikthiart

Erik Thiart

Posted on July 26, 2018

How to install Let's Encrypt on Apache running Ubuntu 16.04

Install
On Ubuntu systems, the Certbot team maintains a PPA. Once you add it to your list of repositories all you'll need to do is apt-get the following packages.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install python-certbot-apache
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Get Started
Certbot has a fairly solid beta-quality Apache plugin, which is supported on many platforms and automates certificate installation.

$ sudo certbot --apache
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Running this command will get a certificate for you and have Certbot edit your Apache configuration automatically to serve it. If you're feeling more conservative and would like to make the changes to your Apache configuration by hand, you can use the certonly subcommand:

$ sudo certbot --apache certonly
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Automating renewal
The Certbot packages on your system come with a cron job that will renew your certificates automatically before they expire. Since Let's Encrypt certificates last for 90 days, it's highly advisable to take advantage of this feature. You can test automatic renewal for your certificates by running this command:

$ sudo certbot renew --dry-run
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
💖 💪 🙅 🚩
erikthiart
Erik Thiart

Posted on July 26, 2018

Join Our Newsletter. No Spam, Only the good stuff.

Sign up to receive the latest update from our blog.

Related