I’m no webmaster. Any knowledge I have in web hosting, servers, or coding is from self-teaching and alot of trial and error. Along the way, I’ve learned a secure site is important to prevent hacking, database injections, and to increase the site’s presence on the internet (basically its Google ranking). So it’s important to have a SSL/TLS certifcate installed on your site. Let’s Encrypt offers SSL/TLS cerficates for free! However, you can support the organization through donations. Here’s how to install a Let’s Encyrpt Certificate in a Sentora /CentOS environment.
CAUTION #1: Do NOT use the Let’s Encrypt: Sentora Domains instructions found in Sentora’s documentation. It’s outdated and doesn’t work.
How do I know?
One, the link for the github repository for Let’sEncrypt is incorrect. It’s no longer under Let’s Encrypt. It’s under Certbot.
Two, the code from Sentora’s doesn’t work. I updated the repository link to no avail.
CAUTION #2: You will get errors when you follow this tutorial after following Sentora’s instructions. The two methods do not play together nicely. Trust me! I had to send a SOS to my hosting provider when Sentora locked me out.
SSH into your server
I use putty.
Install Certbot
wget https://dl.eff.org/certbot-auto
sudo mv certbot-auto /usr/local/bin/certbot-auto
sudo chown root /usr/local/bin/certbot-auto
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/certbot-autoGet a Certificate from Let’s Encrypt and have Certbot automatically edit the Apache configuration for you.
sudo /usr/local/bin/certbot-auto --apacheSetup Automatic Renewal
echo "0 0,12 * * * root python -c 'import random; import time; time.sleep(random.random() * 3600)' && /usr/local/bin/certbot-auto renew -q" | sudo tee -a /etc/crontab > /dev/nullUse SSL Labs (recommended by Certbot) to confirm your site’s security and https:// installation
Is SSL3 causing vulnerability on your site?
I was disappointed to discover SSL Labs rated my site with a B after all that work! No worries. To boost your SSL Labs rating to an A, follow my tutorial How to Disable SSL2 and SSL3 Protocols in a Sentora / CentOS / Apache Environment tutorial.