How to Install Let’s Encrypt SSL with Apache on Debian 11. You will also learn to configure virtual host with Apache and secure your setup with HTTPS redirection.
This setup is tested on Google cloud, so it will work on all cloud hosting services like AWS, Azure or any VPS or any dedicated servers running Debian 11.
Prerequisites
- Root access to your server or a sudo user.
- Domain pointed to your server IP to install Let’sEncrypt SSL
Step 1: Setup Initialization
Start by updating the packages to the latest version available using the following command.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Install wget package.
sudo apt install wget
Once you have updated the setup you can start the setup.
Step 2: Install Apache
Install Apache using the following command.
sudo apt install apache2
This will install apache2 and all required dependencies.
Step 3: Setup Firewall
Now you can set up Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) with Apache to allow public access on default web ports for HTTP and HTTPS
sudo ufw app list
You will see all listed applications.
Output
Available applications:
Apache
Apache Full
Apache Secure
OpenSSH
- Apache: This profile opens port
80(normal, unencrypted web traffic) - Apache Full: This profile opens both port
80(normal, unencrypted web traffic) and port443(TLS/SSL encrypted traffic) - Apache Secure: This profile opens only port
443(TLS/SSL encrypted traffic) - OpenSSH: This profile opens port
22for SSH access.
If you are not going to use SSL you need to enable only the Apache profile.
Now we will enable Apache Full.
sudo uff allow OpenSSH sudo ufw allow 'Apache Full'
With this command you can view the status of UFW.
sudo ufw status
You will see the output as follows.
Output
Status: active
To Action From
-- ------ ----
Apache Full ALLOW Anywhere
OpenSSH ALLOW Anywhere
Apache Full (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
OpenSSH (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
Step: 4 Check Apache Installation
Once Apache is installed is is started automatically and already be up and running.
Every process in Apache is managed with the systemctl command. Check the status of Apache with the following command.
sudo systemctl status apache2
Output
● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /lib/systemd/system/apache2.service.d
└─apache2-systemd.conf
Active: active (running) since Tue 2022-02-02 10:29:51 UTC; 5min ago
Main PID: 10617 (apache2)
Tasks: 55 (limit: 667)
CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
├─10617 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
├─10619 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
└─10620 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
Feb 02 10:29:51 apache systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server…
Feb 02 10:29:51 apache systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.
Now we have Apache installed and configured Firewall.
Step 5: Configure Apache
Disable default Apache configuration.
sudo a2dissite 000-default
Create website directories.
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/domainname/public
Setup correct permissions.
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/domainname sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/domainname
Create a new virtual host configuration.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/domainname.conf
Paste the following configurations in the new file.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@domainname.com
ServerName domainname.com
ServerAlias www.domainname.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/domainname/public
<Directory /var/www/html/domainname/public>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Enable the new configuration.
sudo a2ensite domainname.conf
Step 6: Install Let’s Encrypt SSL
HTTPS is a protocol for secure communication between a server (instance) and a client (web browser). Due to the introduction of Let’s Encrypt, which provides free SSL certificates, HTTPS are adopted by everyone and also provides trust to your audiences.
Here we will install Certbot to install Let’sEncrypt SSL using Snap.
sudo apt update sudo apt install snapd -y sudo snap install core sudo snap refresh core
Install Certbot tool.
sudo snap install --classic certbot
Configure Certbot to be executable as as a command.
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot
Now we have installed Certbot to install Let’s Encrypt for Debian 11.
Execute the following command to install your certificates.
sudo certbot --apache --agree-tos --redirect -m [email protected] -d domainname.com -d www.domainname.com
Select the appropriate option and hit Enter
This command will install Free SSL, configure redirection to HTTPS and restarts the Apache server.
Step 7: Renewing SSL Certificate
Certificates provided by Let’s Encrypt are valid for 90 days only, so you need to renew them often. So, let’s test the renewal feature using the following command.
sudo certbot renew --dry-run
This command will test the certificate expiry and configures the auto-renewable feature.
Step: 8: Test the Setup
Once you have done the able steps you can create a new test HTML file in your web directory.
sudo nano /var/www/html/domainname/public/index.html
Paste the below code inside the file.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>Test page with HTTPS</h1>
</body>
</html>
Save the file.
Now go ahead and check your domain name in browser (domainname.com).
You will see that your domain got redirected to HTTPS and see the HTML output.
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Conclusion
Now you have learned how to install Let’s Encrypt Free SSL with Apache on Debian 11.
Thanks for your time. If you face any problem or any feedback, please leave a comment below.
