RCL SSL HTTP AutoRenew for Linux

V7.1.0

RCL SSL HTTP AutoRenew for Linux runs as a Daemon in a Linux hosting machine. The daemon will run every seven (7) days to automatically renew and save SSL/TLS certificates from a user’s subscription in the RCL SSL Portal to the Linux hosting machine.

Automatically Renew SSL/TLS Certificates

You can use the daemon to renew SSL/TLS certificates created in the RCL SSL Portal using the the following creation options :

Stand Alone (including SAN) using the HTTP Challenge type.

Installation

If you have an older version of the daemon installed in your hosting machine, you should completely delete it and install the new one.

Download and Extract the Daemon Files to the Linux Server

In this section, you will download the files from the GitHub Project Page in the Releases section. Then, extract it to your Linux Server in the /usr/sbin folder:

In your Linux server, navigate to the /usr/sbin folder

cd /usr/sbin

Run the command in the folder to download and extract the linux-x64 files:

wget -c https://github.com/rcl-ssl/rcl-ssl-automatic-renewal/releases/download/V7.1.0/http-autorenew-linux-x64.tar.gz -O - | sudo tar -xz

or linux-arm files :

wget -c https://github.com/rcl-ssl/rcl-ssl-automatic-renewal/releases/download/V7.1.0/http-autorenew-linux-arm.tar.gz -O - | sudo tar -xz

or linux-arm64 files :

wget -c https://github.com/rcl-ssl/rcl-ssl-automatic-renewal/releases/download/V7.1.0/http-autorenew-linux-arm64.tar.gz -O - | sudo tar -xz

Configure the Daemon

Create an API Key

The daemon uses the RCL SSL Core API to renew certificates. You must create an Api Key to make authorized requests to the API. Follow the instructions in the following link to create an Api Key in the RCL SSL Portal.

Create an Api Key

Get the SubscriptionId

Get the Subscription Id in the RCL SSL Portal.

install

Scroll down and copy the ‘Subscription Id’

install

Add the Configuration variables

Navigate to the folder you downloaded and extracted the daemon files :

cd /usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-x64

or for arm

cd /usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-arm

or for arm64

cd /usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-arm64

Use nano (or other text editor) to edit the appsettings.json file in the folder

sudo nano appsettings.json

Add the credentials for the Api Key and Subscription Id in the RCLSDK section :
- ApiKey
- SubscriptionId

Example

"RCLSDK": {
    "ApiBaseUrl": "https://rclapi.azure-api.net/v2",
    "SourceApplication": "RCL SSL HTTP AutoRenew Linux",
    "ApiKey": "xxx",
    "SubscriptionId": "xxx"
  }

In the CertificateBot section, set a folder path to save the SSL/TLS certificates.

saveCertificatePath

Example

  "CertificateBot" : {
      "IncludeCertificates":[],
      "SaveCertificatePath": "/etc/ssl/httpautorenew",
  }

Create the folder in the server and ensure it has read/write permissions so that the certificates can be saved to it.

sudo mkdir -m 777 /etc/ssl/httpautorenew

The includeCertificates settings will allow for including specific certificates by its name (eg: “contoso.com” or “contoso.com, www.contoso.com” - for SAN) for the certificate(s) you want to save on the server.
- certificateName - the name of the certificate in the RCL Portal to be included for automatic renewal
- validationPath - the path to the root folder where the website is hosted from. The validations tokens for the HTTP Challenge will be saved to the root of the website

The website must be actively served by the web server from the validationPath and the site must be publicly accessible on the web in a web browser. If these conditions are not met, the SSL/TLS certificate update will fail for the HTTP challenge.

Example of multiple certificates

  "CertificateBot": {
    "saveCertificatePath": "/etc/ssl/httpautorenew",
     "includeCertificates": [
        {
          "certificateName": "contoso.com",
          "validationPath": "/var/www/contoso"
        },
        {
          "certificateName": "fabricam.com,www.fabricam.com",
          "validationPath": "/var/www/fabricam"
        }
      ]
  }

Example of a single certificate

  "CertificateBot": {
    "saveCertificatePath": "/etc/ssl/httpautorenew",
     "includeCertificates": [
        {
          "certificateName": "adventureworks.com",
          "validationPath": "/var/www/adventureworks"
        }
      ]
  }

Example of a configured appsettings.json file

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "RCLSDK": {
    "ApiBaseUrl": "https://rclapi.azure-api.net/v2",
    "SourceApplication": "RCL SSL HTTP AutoRenew Linux",
    "ApiKey": "abc123",
    "SubscriptionId": "erft567"
  },
  "CertificateBot": {
    "SaveCertificatePath": "/etc/ssl/httpautorenew",
    "includeCertificates": [
        {
          "certificateName": "adventureworks.com",
          "validationPath": "/var/www/adventureworks"
        }
      ]
  }
}

Save the updated appsettings.json file when you are done

Add the Linux Daemon

Create the Daemon

Navigate to the /etc/systemd/system folder

cd /etc/systemd/system

Create the daemon file

sudo touch httpautorenew.service

Use nano (or other text editor) to edit the service file

sudo nano httpautorenew.service

Add the following code to the file

[Unit]
Description=RCL HttpAutorenew

[Service]
Type=notify
WorkingDirectory=/usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-x64
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-x64/RCL.SSL.HTTP.AutoRenew.Linux

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

If you installed the arm version, change the directory to the arm path /usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-arm or /usr/sbin/http-autorenew-linux-arm64 in the ‘WorkingDirectory’ and ‘ExecStart’ settings

Save the file when you are done

Reload the Daemon

Reload the daemon anytime you make changes to the service file

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Start the Daemon

Run the code to start the daemon

sudo systemctl start httpautorenew

View the Status of the Daemon

Run the code to view the status of the daemon

sudo systemctl status httpautorenew

You will see the status of the daemon. The most recent logs will also be displayed.
Ensure that there are no errors in the logs. If there are errors, the daemon is misconfigured and will not function

View the Detailed Logs

Run the command to view the daemon’s detailed logs

sudo journalctl -u httpautorenew --no-pager

If the application is working correctly you should see messages similar to the one below :

RCL.SSL.HTTP.AutoRenew.Linux[1508]: RCL.SSL.HTTP.AutoRenew.Linux.Worker[0] Found 1 certificate(s) to process locally.  Did not find any certificates to renew

If you need to Stop the Daemon

Run the code if you need to stop the daemon (in case you need to update settings or fix errors).

When the daemon is stopped, the daemon will discontinue certificate renewals and installation in the server.

sudo systemctl stop httpautorenew

You need to keep the daemon running to automatically renew certificates.

Fixing Errors

If you encounter errors in the logs for the daemon, please stop the daemon. Ensure the ‘appsettings’ configuration is correct and the certificate save path settings exists.

The folder to save the certificate must have read/write access.

Reload and restart the daemon after you make changes and check if the errors were resolved.

Updating the Daemon

If you need to update the daemon to include other certificates, follow these steps:

Stop the daemon
Change the appsettings.json file to include additional certificates
Re-load the daemon
Re-start the daemon

Reset the Daemon

If you need to reset the daemon because of a error or corrupted certificate renewal, follow these steps :

Stop the daemon
Delete all certificates and their folders in the directory in which certificates are saved
Re-load the daemon
Re-start the daemon

Testing Certificate Renewal

Force Certificate Expiration

In order to test certificate renewal, you must first force certificate expiration in the RCL SSL Portal.

In the RCL SSL Portal, click on the SSL/TLS Certificate > Certificates List link in the side menu
In the certificates list, click the Manage > Force Expiry link
In the Force Expiry page, click the Force Expiry button
The certificate will be forced to expire in the next 14 days

Force Expiry

Testing Renewal

Re-start the daemon to trigger the certificate renewal

sudo systemctl restart httpautorenew

Wait a few minutes and run the command to view the daemon’s detailed logs

sudo journalctl -u httpautorenew --no-pager

Check the logs to ensure successful certificate renewal.

RCL.SSL.HTTP.AutoRenew.Linux[1405]: RCL.SSL.HTTP.AutoRenew.Linux.Worker[0] Found 1 certificate(s) to process locally.  Found 1 certificate(s) to renew.  Scheduling shopeneur.com for renewal.  Renewed shopeneur.com Successfully saved : shopeneur.com in local machine.

If there are errors: fix the errors , restart the demon and run the test again
Check that the certificate files are stored in the folder that you specified. Review the section below to learn how the daemon saves certificate files

Example

 cd /etc/ssl/httpautorenew
 ls

Once this test passes, the daemon will run every seven days to automatically renew certificates and save the certificate files to a folder you specify

Certificate Files

The SSL/TLS certificate files will be stored at the path you specified in the appsettings.json configuration file. In this example, we used the path /etc/ssl/httpautorenew to store the certificate files.

At this path, a folder is generated by the service based on the certificate name. All the files for the certificate will be stored in this folder.

For each certificate, the following files are downloaded and saved on the hosting machine with the following file names:

certificate.pfx - The PFX certificate file
primaryCertificate.crt - The Primary Certificate file
fullChainCertificate.crt - The full chain certificate file
caBundle.crt - The Intermediate Certificates (CA Bundle) file
privateKey.key - The Certificate Private Key file

The files are saved in a folder generated by the daemon based on the certificate name following these conventions :

Type	Example Certificate Name	Example Folder Name
Apex Domain	shopeneur.com	shopeneur-com
Sub-domain	store.shopeneur.com	store-shopeneur-com
Wildcard domain	*.shopeneur.com	wcard-shopeneur-com
SAN HTTP Challenge	shopeneur.com,www.shopeneur.com	shopeneur-com-san-www
SAN DNS Challenge	shopeneur.com,*.shopeneur.com	shopeneur-com-san-wcard

Configuring the Web Servers

After, you have installed the daemon and renewed certificates have been downloaded to the specified folder. Please follow the links below to configure your web server to use the certificates files in the folder generated by the daemon :