# LetsEncrypt WebFaction LetsEncrypt utility client for WebFaction hosts. This tool automates the process of using LetsEncrypt on WebFaction hosts. It can be added to the Cron scheduled task runner where it will validate your domains automatically, obtain the certificates, and then install them using the Webfaction API. For more documentation, as well as walkthroughs, [see the wiki](https://github.com/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction/wiki)! [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction) [![Gem Version](https://badge.fury.io/rb/letsencrypt_webfaction.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/rb/letsencrypt_webfaction) [![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction/badges/gpa.svg)](https://codeclimate.com/github/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction) *Note: if you find this useful and are setting up a new account, you can support me a little by using [my WebFaction affiliate link](https://www.webfaction.com/?aid=49923). I think I get a 10% referal bonus from whatever you spend at WebFaction. Thanks!* ## Why not Certbot? [Certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/) is the "official" (in that it was the first and to some extent reference client) Let's Encrypt client. Let's Encrypt decided to focus Certbot on a particular use case, namely the configuration of servers which are directly facing the internet and can have the Certbot application run as root. For other use cases, they encourage the implementation of other clients tailored to different cases. This has spawned a wide variety of alternative implementations. LetsEncrypt WebFaction is just such an alternative implementation. It was built because the WebFaction use case does not fit in the Certbot preconditions, namely that users don't have root access to change the frontend Nginx server configuration. WebFaction has a custom API we use to install the certificate. Certbot could probably be used in "webroot" mode to create the certificate on disk, and have someone write a custom plugin to install using the API. For various reasons, I decided not to do this. If someone creates instructions to do this, I'd be happy to link to it from [the wiki](https://github.com/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction/wiki). ## Prerequisite topics Below are a list of server administration topics that it is assumed you know in order to follow the installation and setup instructions. If you find something in the readme that is unclear to you, please open a ticket and I'll try to improve the documentation! ### Cron Cron is an application which will execute commands on a defined schedule. WebFaction has [some good documentation on how to use it](https://docs.webfaction.com/software/general.html#scheduling-tasks-with-cron). ### SSH All of the commands listed below (unless specified otherwise) are run in an SSH session on the server. Again, WebFaction has written a [splendid little tutorial on how to get this working](https://docs.webfaction.com/user-guide/access.html#ssh). ### SFTP If you're not happy navigating around your server's folders and files through SSH, you might find some of this process easier if you access your server with an FTP client over Secure FTP. WebFaction [also has this covered](https://docs.webfaction.com/user-guide/access.html#connecting-with-ftp). ## Installation This utility works on [CentOS 6 and 7 boxes](https://docs.webfaction.com/user-guide/server.html#finding-your-server-s-operating-system). The CentOS 5 systems do not have a new enough OpenSSL to include the algorithms required. You may be able to make this work using rbenv and compiling openssl yourself. A tutorial for CentOS 5 is available here: https://github.com/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction/wiki/Install-custom-OpenSSL-and-Ruby-on-CentOS-5-host All places where you need to substitute a value specific to your setup will be denoted with square brackets, e.g. [yourdomain.com]. There are cases where shell variables are used, such as `$HOME`. These should be typed verbatim. You can install LetsEncrypt WebFaction using the system Ruby or using RBEnv. ### System Ruby This is the simpler method and is preferred. Run the following command in an SSH session to install the letsencrypt_webfaction package via the [RubyGems package management site](https://rubygems.org/gems/letsencrypt_webfaction): ```sh GEM_HOME=$HOME/.letsencrypt_webfaction/gems RUBYLIB=$GEM_HOME/lib gem2.2 install letsencrypt_webfaction ``` Add the following to `~/.bash_profile` (using, for example, an FTP client or your favorite text editor): ```sh function letsencrypt_webfaction { PATH=$PATH:$GEM_HOME/bin GEM_HOME=$HOME/.letsencrypt_webfaction/gems RUBYLIB=$GEM_HOME/lib ruby2.2 $HOME/.letsencrypt_webfaction/gems/bin/letsencrypt_webfaction $* } ``` This will simplify the running of the LetsEncrypt WebFaction command, by setting some variables in advance. After saving `~/.bash_profile`, run the command `source $HOME/.bash_profile` to apply the new settings. Now, you are ready to run `letsencrypt_webfaction` from your SSH session to get certificates. See below for usage. ### RBEnv (advanced) This method is useful if you are already using RBEnv to manage Ruby, or if you are already a Ruby developer. If neither of these cases are true, just use the system Ruby method. Follow the instructions to [set up RBEnv](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv) and [Ruby Build](https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build#readme) on your WebFaction server. Once you have done so, install Ruby 2.1+, but <2.4 (probably 2.3.1 at time of writing). Then set the local Ruby and install the Gem. Finally unset the local Ruby so that you don't run into problems. $ rbenv install 2.3.1 # Installs Ruby 2.3.1 $ rbenv local 2.3.1 # Sets Ruby 2.3.1 as the default version in the current folder. $ gem install letsencrypt_webfaction # Installs this utility from RubyGems. $ rbenv rehash # Makes RBenv aware of the letsencrypt_webfaction utility. $ rm .ruby-version # Unsets Ruby 2.3.1 as the default version in the current folder. *Ruby 2.4.0+ is not supported since they removed the XMLRPC library from core and moved it to a gem. This Gem doesn't work in Ruby <2.3, leaving us with an issue as the majority of system Rubies used with this project are <2.4. So don't use 2.4 for now. If you absolutely want to, make sure you install the xmlrpc gem manually.* ## Usage ### Syntax The syntax of the letsencrypt_webfaction command is as follows: $ letsencrypt_webfaction --letsencrypt_account_email --domains --public --username --password ### Options: The basic parameters are as follows: * `--letsencrypt_account_email` The email address you want associated with the issued certificates. * `--domains` The domains for which you want to create certificates, separated by commas (with no spaces). The domains must be served from the same folder. There is one certificate per WebFaction Website, regardless of how many domains are served from it. * `--public` A folder which is directly served at `http://[yourdomain.com]/` into which the ACME verification files can be placed. In the case of a PHP site, such as Drupal or Wordpress, look for the folder with `index.php` in it. This is usually in `/home/[myuser]/webapps/[yourapp/]`. In the case of a Rails app, look for a folder called `public/`. If you are deploying your app with Capistrano, this could show up in `/home/myuser/webapps/[yourapp]/current/public/`. In some cases (such as with some Node.js or Python applications), you may need to create this folder. See [here](https://github.com/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction/issues/24) for an example of this workaround. You can specify multiple public directories in this option, separated by commas. This is useful when you want to create a single certificate that serves multiple domains that happen to be backed by multiple different public directories. During Let's Encrypt's http01 challenge-response, letsencrypt-webfaction will copy all the challenge files for all domains into all the public directories. Let's Encrypt supports up to 100 domains per certificate, and they discuss the pros and cons of the multiple-domain technique here: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/integration-guide/ * `--username` The username you use to log into the Webfaction control panel. Needed along with the password to upload your cert to their API. * `--password` The password you use to log into the Webfaction control panel. It is better to place this in a config file than to put it in the command line. If you have several webapps, then you will need to issue the command several times. The command can be run from any folder. Other parameters (which are generally best left to their default values, unless you have a perticular need to change them) can be found in the `config.defaults.yml` configuration file (see below in the "More detailed examples" section). ### Example Here is a basic example which issues one certificate for both yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com, both of which are served by `~/webapps/yourapp/wordpress` and your WebFaction contact email address is you@youremail.com. This assumes that both yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com are served from the same folder. $ letsencrypt_webfaction --letsencrypt_account_email you@youremail.com --domains yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com --public ~/webapps/yourapp/wordpress/ --username myusername --password mypassword *Note: Passing the password via the command line as seen here is insecure. You should use the `--config` mechanism mentioned later.* After you run this command, you will see a new certificate in the webfaction admin panel, called yourdomain_com (in this case). You need to change your application to point to this certificate after the certificate has been issued. Future runs of this command will update the existing certificate entry and not require a change in the admin. You can change the name in the admin interface using the `--cert_name` parameter. ### Testing To test certificate issuance, consider using the [LetsEncrypt staging server](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/testing-against-the-lets-encrypt-staging-environment/6763). This doesn't have the rate limit of 5 certs per domain every 7 days. You can add the `--endpoint https://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/` parameter to the `letsencrypt_webfaction` command to do so. A test command could thus be something like the following: $ letsencrypt_webfaction --letsencrypt_account_email you@youremail.com --domains yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com --public ~/webapps/yourapp/wordpress/ --username --password --endpoint https://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/ ### Operation When letsencrypt_webfaction runs, it places verification files into the public directory specified, validates the domains with LetsEncrypt, and then uploads the certificate to WebFaction's API. To quickly get a list of parameters and help for each, you can run: $ letsencrypt_webfaction --help Once you have the certificate installed and working, you will probably want to redirect the HTTP version of your site to the HTTPS version. WebFaction has [documentation describing how to do this](https://docs.webfaction.com/software/static.html#static-redirecting-from-http-to-https). ### Cron usage Normally, you will run the script manually once to get the certificate, and then you will use Cron to automate future certificate renewal. Your Cron task could look something like: # System Ruby Installation 0 4 1 */2 * PATH=$PATH:$GEM_HOME/bin:/usr/local/bin GEM_HOME=$HOME/.letsencrypt_webfaction/gems RUBYLIB=$GEM_HOME/lib ruby2.2 $HOME/.letsencrypt_webfaction/gems/bin/letsencrypt_webfaction --letsencrypt_account_email [you@youremail.com] --domains [yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com] --public ~/webapps/[yourapp/your_public_html]/ # RBEnv Installation 0 4 1 */2 * RBENV_ROOT=~/.rbenv RBENV_VERSION=2.3.1 ~/.rbenv/bin/rbenv exec letsencrypt_webfaction --letsencrypt_account_email [you@youremail.com] --domains [yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com] --public ~/webapps/[yourapp/your_public_html]/ This [would run](http://crontab.guru/#0_4_1_*/2_*) at 4 a.m. on the first day of January, March, May, July, September, and November. Certificates expire three months after issuance, so modify as desired (for example, you may want to run the task every two months initially, to be sure that everything is working before extending the period). Change the date of the Cron task so that WebFaction staff don't simultaneously receive all certificate change requests on the first day of the month. If you have more than one Cron task running like this, you may want to set the environment variables at the top of the file, and create a config file containing the contact information. If you want to be notified upon failure, you can add `MAILTO=[you@youremail.com]` to the top of the crontab. This will send you an email whenever any cron job outputs standard out or standard error, which is generally good practice. ## Upgrading While WebFaction staff maintain your standard server software, the support team will not upgrade your installation of LetsEncrypt WebFaction. You won't usually need to do this unless you have an issue but, as is good practice with most software, it's best kept up to date. You can find the current version by running `letsencrypt_webfaction --version`. Sort of. In versions >= 1.1.4, this will work. In older versions, this will just print `letsencrypt_webfaction: version unknown` due to an oversight on my part. So if you get the latter output, just upgrade. [The changelog](./CHANGELOG.md) describes changes from version to version. LetsEncrypt WebFaction follows [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/). In a nutshell, a version number such as `1.2.3` is divided as `major.minor.patch`. When the major version is incremented, you will probably have to change something about the configuration to make it work. The changelog will let you know what changes you need to make. When the minor version is incremented, there are new features but existing features haven't changed. If the patch version is incremented, the changes are all under the hood and shouldn't change or add any existing features. TL;DR: Be careful with major version upgrades and you should be fine with upgrading to minor or patch releases. To upgrade, run one of the following two commands to fetch and install the newest version from RubyGems: ```sh # For system Ruby: GEM_HOME=$HOME/.letsencrypt_webfaction/gems RUBYLIB=$GEM_HOME/lib gem2.2 install letsencrypt_webfaction # For RBenv RBENV_VERSION=2.3.1 gem install letsencrypt_webfaction ``` ### More detailed examples Default parameters can be found in [config.defaults.yml](./config.defaults.yml). All of the parameters can be overridden by passing another config file, arguments to the executable, or both. If a both a config file and command-line arguments are passed, they will be interleaved, with the command-line arguments having precedence. A config file needs to be in [YAML format](http://www.yaml.org/refcard.html) and have a subset of the keys in [config.defaults.yml](./config.defaults.yml). If you use a config file, you add the `--config [./myconfig.yml]` parameter to the letsencrypt_webfaction command. This allows you to set up a Cron task for multiple sites with the defaults for all of them (such as your email address) in a config file, and site specific directives in the command. For example: $ letsencrypt_webfaction --config [~/le_config.yml] --domains [yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com] --public ~/webapps/[yourapp/your_public_html/] This could be run automatically every two months. A config file can be placed anywhere in your WebFaction account. A good place might be `~/le_config/siteconfig.yml`. ## Development If you are interested in contributing to this project with new code or bugfixes, welcome! To run the script directly from the repository, use: $ ruby -Ilib exe/letsencrypt_webfaction See details in the "Testing" section above on how to use the Let's Encrypt stage server when developing, together with usage of the `--support_email` parameter in a testing environment. After checking out the repo, run `bin/setup` to install dependencies. Then, run `rake spec` to run the tests. You can also run `bin/console` for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment. To install this gem onto your local machine, run `bin/rake install`. To release a new version, update the version number in `lib/letsencrypt_webfaction.rb`, and then run `bin/rake release`, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the `.gem` file to [rubygems.org](https://rubygems.org). This project uses [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/). ## Contributing Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/will-in-wi/letsencrypt-webfaction