User Guide - Free SSL Certificates with Let's Encrypt
- 27/04/2017 1:00 PM
Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority (CA), run for the public’s benefit. It is a service provided by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). For more information, see https://letsencrypt.org.
eApps Hosting commends ISRG for providing Let's Encrypt SSL certificates free of charge to the public. This is a valuable public service and might be a good fit for your SSL needs. However, in general, eApps recommends that you use commercial certificates for eCommerce and other high security needs, for the following reasons:
- SSL trust factor - Commercial certificates range in price from a few dollars a year to hundreds of dollars a year. The primary difference is that more expensive certificates require a more thorough vetting process. Also, more expensive certificates generally have a larger warranty. Let's Encrypt certificates use a simple vetting domain name process.
- Warranty - Let's Encrypt certificates provide no warranty, unlike commercial certificates.
- Support - The issuance of Let's Encrypt certificates is simple and is generally error free. The certificates can be set up to automatically re-issue. In most cases everything will go smoothly. However, if there are errors or issues with the certificate there is no support. eApps provides information and assistance to help you use Let's Encrypt, but does not provide free support for any issues you encounter.
- Self Install - eApps' service provides the tools to make it easy to obtain and setup the certificates. We can obtain and install the certificate for you for a modest one time fee. Installation is free of charge for commercial certificates purchased from eApps.
Overview
This User Guide is designed to help you install and configure a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on your Virtual Server. This is a self service product that is made available to eApps customers on an as is bases. If you need assistance beyond what is included in this User Guide, or would like for eApps handle the setup of the SSL for a small one time fee, contact sales@eapps.com.
WARNING: The control panels handle Let's Encrypt automatically. If a manual installation of Let's Encrypt is performed directly into the server, it will not integrate with the control panels and will cause unexpected behavior.
Installing Let's Encrypt using ISPManager 5 (for Virtual Cloud Servers or PaaS servers running ISPmanager)
ISPSystems has an official guide for setting up Let's Encrypt. You can find it here: https://doc.ispsystem.com/index.php/Integraion_with_Let%E2%80%99s_Encrypt
Let's Encrypt is supported in ISPManager 5 only. Information on how to tell which version of ISPmanager you are using can be found here - ISPManager Versions
If you are using ISPManager 4, contact sales@eapps.com for upgrade options.
Installing Let's Encrypt using Jelastic (for environments that are not running ISPmanager or other control panel)
Jelastic has an official guide for setting up Let's Encrypt using the Jelastic Packaging Standard (JPS). It can be installed to any environment with the following containers as an entry point:
- Load Balancers - NGINX, Apache LB, HAProxy
- Java application servers - Tomcat 6/7/8/9, TomEE, GlassFish 3/4, Jetty 6
- PHP application servers - Apache PHP, NGINX PHP
- Ruby application servers - Apache Ruby, NGINX Ruby
You can find the guide here: http://blog.jelastic.com/2017/02/01/free-ssl-certificates-with-lets-encrypt/
Installing Let's Encrypt using Plesk
Plesk has an official guide for setting Let's Encrypt via the Extension Catalog starting with version 12.5 and up. You can find it here: https://www.plesk.com/blog/lets-encrypt-plesk/
Installing Let's Encrypt using cPanel & WHM
cPanel supports setting up Let's Encrypt as a provider for their AutoSSL Plugin starting with version 58.0.17.
cPanel & WHM templates provided by eApps already include the Let's Encrypt AutoSSL provider plugin. You can find instructions for using AutoSSL with Let's Encrypt here: https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/Manage+AutoSSL