Today we will show you, how to install Let’s Encrypt SSL using DirectAdmin. Let’s Encrypt is a completely free and automated, new certificate authority developed by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) and recognized by all major browsers. They make it a breeze to set up TLS certificates for your web server. And for free! Let’s Encrypt is supported by major players like Mozilla, Akamai, Cisco, the EFF and managed by the Linux Foundation. Let’s Encrypt provides free, automatic and secure certificates. The website owners can easily obtain security certificates within minutes, enabling a safer web experience for all.

As of version 1.50.0, DirectAdmin supports Let’s Encrypt. Using this DirectAdmin feature, it is possible to secure your domain without purchasing an expensive SSL certificate.

Login to your DirectAdmin Virtual Private Server via SSH as user root

ssh [email protected]_Adress -p Port_number

Run the following command to make sure that all installed packages are up to date

yum -y update

Also, we will clean the software list and make sure we’ve got the latest Let’s Encrypt script.

cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/
./build clean all
./build update
./build letsencrypt

and rewrite the configuration files

./build rewrite_confs

Once the update is completed, open the DirectAdmin configuration file ‘directadmin.conf’ and enable the Let’s Ecnrypt option by adding or modifying the following line

nano /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf

letsencrypt=1

You should also make sure that SNI is enabled in DirectAdmin by adding/modifying this line

enable_ssl_sni=1

save the file and restart DirectAdmin for the changes to take effect

echo "action=directadmin&value=restart" >> /usr/local/directadmin/data/task.queue; /usr/local/directadmin/dataskq d2000

With this step Let’s Encrypt is enabled in DirectAdmin and we can proceed with the installation. Login to the control panel at https://yourdomain:2222 with your username and go to ‘SSL Certificates’ under ‘Advanced Features’

If the SSL option is disabled for the selected domain as shown in the screenshot below, you need to enable it by clicking ‘here’

If you properly enabled Let’s Encrypt, you will see the ‘Free & automatic certificate from Let’s Encrypt’ option. Check the check-box next to the Let’s Encrypt option and enter all necessary details for your domain below

Then click the ‘Save’ button and a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate will be automatically installed. The Let’s Encrypt certificates are valid for 90 days and DirectAdmin will automatically try to renew the certificate after 85 days.

Restart the web server for the changes to take effect

systemctl restart httpd

If you have Nginx web serevr, run the following command

systemctl restart nginx

That’s all. If you followed the steps, a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate should be successfully installed on your domain name. You can follow the steps above to install unlimited number of SSL certificates on your domains.

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