Setting up Apache with Letsencrypt certificates

Since you need a domain name, and I almost always use dynamic domain services, I recommend setting up ddclient so that the dynamic DNS is kept updated.

First create an Apache Virtual Host under /etc/apache2/sites-enabled

Then run

certbot --apache -d fsh.homedns.org

replace “fsh.homedns.org” with your domain name

you can also run

certbot certonly --apache -d <domain>

which will only create the /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain> files

If you get: “The requested apache plugin does not appear to be installed”

apt install python3-certbot-apache

Set up a virtual host for port 80 that redirects to https:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName fsh.homedns.org
  Redirect / https://fsh.homedns.org
  --- OR ----
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =swish.homedns.org
  RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]
</VirtualHost>

Set up a virtual host for port 443. You can have both VirtualHosts in the same file (I usually do)

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
  <VirtualHost *:443>
    # The ServerName directive sets the request scheme, hostname and port that 
    # the server uses to identify itself. This is used when creating
    # redirection URLs. In the context of virtual hosts, the ServerName
    # specifies what hostname must appear in the request's Host: header to
    # match this virtual host. For the default virtual host (this file) this
    # value is not decisive as it is used as a last resort host regardless.
    # However, you must set it for any further virtual host explicitly.


    ServerName fsh.homedns.org 
    Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf 
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

    # If this VirtualHost is just a proxy for a local (say Rails) server,
    # Add statements like these:
    # ProxyPreserveHost On
    # ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3001/
    # ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:3001/

    # Point out where you have the actual www-files:
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/fsh.homedns.org

    # Available loglevels: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
    # error, crit, alert, emerg.
    # It is also possible to configure the loglevel for particular
    # modules, e.g.
    #LogLevel info ssl:warn

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    # For most configuration files from conf-available/, which are
    # enabled or disabled at a global level, it is possible to
    # include a line for only one particular virtual host. For example the
    # following line enables the CGI configuration for this host only
    # after it has been globally disabled with "a2disconf".
    #Include conf-available/serve-cgi-bin.conf

    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/fsh.homedns.org/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/fsh.homedns.org/privkey.pem

  </VirtualHost>
</IfModule>