- Overview
- Initial setup
- Prerequisites
- Step 0 - Create DNS records
- Step 1 - Edit domain names and emails in the configuration
- Step 2 - Create named Docker volumes for dummy and Let's Encrypt TLS certificates
- Step 3 - Build images and start containers
- Step 4 - Switch to production Let's Encrypt server after verifying HTTPS works with test certificates
- Adding a new domain to a running solution
- Directory structure
- Configuration file structure
This example automatically obtains and renews Let's Encrypt TLS certificates and set up HTTPS in Nginx for multiple domain names using Docker Compose.
You can set up HTTPS in Nginx with Let's Encrypt TLS certificates for your domain names and get A+ rating at SSL Labs SSL Server Test by changing a few configuration parameters of this example.
Let's Encrypt is a certificate authority that provides free X.509 certificates for TLS encryption. The certificates are valid for 90 days and can be renewed. Both initial creation and renewal can be automated using Certbot.
When using Kubernetes Let's Encrypt TLS certificates can be easily obtained and installed using Cert Manager. For simple web sites and applications Kubernetes is too much overhead and Docker Compose is more suitable. But for Docker Compose there is no such popular and robust tool for TLS certificate management.
The example supports separate TLS certificates for multiple domain names, e.g. example.com
, anotherdomain.net
etc.
For simplicity this example deals with the following domain names:
test1.evgeniy-khyst.com
test2.evgeniy-khyst.com
The idea is simple. There are 3 containers:
- Nginx
- Certbot - for obtaining and renewing certificates
- Cron - for triggering certificates renewal once a day
The sequence of actions:
- Nginx generates self-signed "dummy" certificates to pass ACME challenge for obtaining Let's Encrypt certificates
- Certbot waits for Nginx to become ready and obtains certificates
- Cron triggers Certbot to try to renew certificates and Nginx to reload configuration on a daily basis
- Docker and Docker Compose are installed
- You have a domain name
- You have a server with a publicly routable IP address
- You have cloned this repository
git clone https://github.com/evgeniy-khist/letsencrypt-docker-compose.git
For all domain names create DNS A records to point to a server where Docker containers will be running.
Also, consider creating CNAME records for www
subdomains.
DNS records
Type | Hostname | Value |
---|---|---|
A | test1.evgeniy-khyst.com |
directs to IP address X.X.X.X |
A | test2.evgeniy-khyst.com |
directs to IP address X.X.X.X |
CNAME | www.test1.evgeniy-khyst.com |
is an alias of test1.evgeniy-khyst.com |
CNAME | www.test2.evgeniy-khyst.com |
is an alias of test2.evgeniy-khyst.com |
Specify your domain names and contact emails for these domains in the config.env
:
DOMAINS=test1.evgeniy-khyst.com test2.evgeniy-khyst.com
CERTBOT_EMAILS=info@evgeniy-khyst.com info@evgeniy-khyst.com
docker volume create --name=nginx_ssl
docker volume create --name=letsencrypt_certs
docker-compose up -d --build
docker-compose logs -f
Step 4 - Switch to production Let's Encrypt server after verifying HTTPS works with test certificates
Stop the containers:
docker-compose down
Configure to use production Let's Encrypt server in config.env
:
CERTBOT_TEST_CERT=0
Re-create the volume for Let's Encrypt certificates:
docker volume rm letsencrypt_certs
docker volume create --name=letsencrypt_certs
Start the containers:
docker-compose up -d
docker-compose logs -f
Let's add a third domain test3.evgeniy-khyst.com
to the running solution.
Create DNS A record and CNAME record for www
subdomain.
DNS records
Type | Hostname | Value |
---|---|---|
A | test3.evgeniy-khyst.com |
directs to IP address X.X.X.X |
CNAME | www.test3.evgeniy-khyst.com |
is an alias of test3.evgeniy-khyst.com |
Add new domain name (test3.evgeniy-khyst.com
) and contact email to the config.env
:
DOMAINS=test1.evgeniy-khyst.com test2.evgeniy-khyst.com test3.evgeniy-khyst.com
CERTBOT_EMAILS=info@evgeniy-khyst.com info@evgeniy-khyst.com info@evgeniy-khyst.com
Create a web root for a new domain test3.evgeniy-khyst.com
:
mkdir html/test3.evgeniy-khyst.com/
Add some static content:
cp html/test1.evgeniy-khyst.com/index.html html/test3.evgeniy-khyst.com/
docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d
docker-compose logs -f
The directories and files:
docker-compose.yml
.env
- specifiesCOMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME
to make container names independent from the base directory nameconfig.env
- specifies project configuration, e.g. domain names, emails etc.html/
test1.evgeniy-khyst.com/
- directory mounted as a web root for Nginx servertest1.evgeniy-khyst.com
test2.evgeniy-khyst.com/
- directory mounted as a web root for Nginx servertest2.evgeniy-khyst.com
nginx/
Dockerfile
nginx.sh
- entrypoint scripthsts.conf
- HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) policydefault.conf
- Nginx configuration with common settings for all domains. The file is copied to/etc/nginx/conf.d/
site.conf.tpl
- Nginx configuration template. Contains a configuration to get A+ rating at SSL Server Test. Configuration files based on this template are created as/etc/nginx/sites/${domain}.conf
. These configuration files are included bydefault.conf
certbot/
Dockerfile
certbot.sh
- entrypoint script
cron/
Dockerfile
renew_certs.sh
- script executed on a daily basis to try to renew certificates
To adapt the example to your domain names you need to change only config.env
:
DOMAINS=test1.evgeniy-khyst.com test2.evgeniy-khyst.com
CERTBOT_EMAILS=info@evgeniy-khyst.com info@evgeniy-khyst.com
CERTBOT_TEST_CERT=1
CERTBOT_RSA_KEY_SIZE=4096
Configuration parameters:
DOMAINS
- a space separated list of domains to manage certificates forCERTBOT_EMAILS
- a space separated list of email for corresponding domains. If not specified, certificates will be obtained with--register-unsafely-without-email
CERTBOT_TEST_CERT
- use Let's Encrypt staging server (--test-cert
)
Let's Encrypt has rate limits. So, while testing it's better to use staging server by setting CERTBOT_TEST_CERT=1
(default value).
When you are ready to use production Let's Encrypt server, set CERTBOT_TEST_CERT=0
.