freedombone-renew-cert(1)

NAME
freedombone-renew-cert - Renew SSL/TLS certificates for web sites

SYNOPSIS
freedombone-renew-cert -h [hostname] -p [provider]

DESCRIPTION
This command is intended to help make renewing SSL/TLS certificates less agonizing. The problem is that companies providing "official" certificates which are recognised by browsers have web user interfaces which are really designed for professional systems administrators, not home server users. They don't explain much about what to do with certificates, and this command hopefully reduces the complexity of that problem.

USAGE WITH STARTSSL
The StartSSL certificates last for a year. You can check the expiry date of your current certificate/s by going to your site and if you're using Firefox then click on the lock icon , select "more information" then "view certificate". Before changing any certificates it's a good idea to make a backup of the existing system. Plug in a USB drive, log into the Freedombone and become the root user, then run the command backup. Backing up may take a while, but it ensures that if anything goes wrong and you mess up the certificates then there is a way to restore the previous ones. Make sure that you have the StartSSL certificate which was created when you initially made an account. You did save it somewhere safe, didn't you? If it's not installed into your browser then in Firefox go to Menu/Preferences/Advanced/View Certificates. Make sure the "Your Cerificates" tab is selected and click "import", then import the StartSSL certificate. Now go to startssl.com and click on the keys icon on the right hand side to log in. Select the Control panel then Validations Wizard and choose Email address validation. Enter your email address, then wait for the validation email to show up in your inbox. It will contain a code when you can then enter. Once your email is validated then go to Validations Wizard and choose Domain name validation. Enter your domain name and select postmaster@yourdomainname. After a while you should receive a validation email and you can then enter the code. Log in to the Freedombone, become the root user, then issue the renew command:
    ssh username@mydomainname -p 2222
    su
    freedombone-renew-cert -h mydomainname For the email address it's a good idea to use /postmaster@mydomainname/. Use a random 20 character password, and keep a note of it. We'll remove this later. On the StartSSL site select Certificates Wizard then Web server SSL/TLS Certificate. You can then click on "skip" and then copy and paste the certificate request into the text entry box. You may now need to wait a few hours for a confirmation email indicating that the new certificate was created. Select Tool Box and then Retrieve Certificate from the list. Make sure to choose the one with the correct expiration date. Copy the text, then on the Freedombone.
    editor /etc/ssl/certs/mydomainname.new.crt Paste the public key from the StartSSL site. Save and exit. Then run the renew command again:
    freedombone-renew-cert -h mydomainname The new certificate will then be installed.

BUGS
Report bugs at https://github.com/bashrc/freedombone/issues

AUTHOR
Bob Mottram <bob@freedombone.net>
PGP/GPG: EA982E38
Web: https://freedombone.net