How to Install and Set Up Lets Encrypt via CloudFlare DNS Checks on CentOS 8

Introduction

Let’s Encrypt is a free, open-source certificate authority that allows you to easily obtain SSL/TLS certificates for your website. This guide will show you how to use CloudFlare DNS checks to verify your domain ownership and install a SSL/TLS certificate for your website using the certbot tool on CentOS 8. Prerequisites

Before you begin, there are a few prerequisites you will need to complete:

• You will need a CentOS 8 server with a domain name pointed to it.
• You will need to have a CloudFlare account and have added your domain to it.
• You will need to have certbot installed on your server. If it is not installed, you can install it by running the following command: sudo yum install certbot

Installing the SSL/TLS Certificate

Once you have completed the prerequisites, you can proceed with installing the SSL/TLS certificate for your website.

• First, generate a new certificate using the certbot tool and the dns-cloudflare plugin. This will allow you to use CloudFlare’s DNS records to verify your domain ownership. Replace example.com with your own domain name:

sudo certbot certonly --dns-cloudflare --dns-cloudflare-credentials /path/to/credentials.ini -d example.com

• The certbot tool will ask you to provide your CloudFlare API key and email address. You can find these in your CloudFlare account under “My Profile” in the “API Keys” section.

• After the certificate has been generated, you will need to update your website’s configuration to use the new certificate. The exact steps for this will vary depending on your web server software, but typically you will need to update the ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key options in your server’s configuration file.

Conclusion

By following the steps in this guide, you should now have a SSL/TLS certificate installed on your CentOS 8 server using the certbot tool and the CloudFlare DNS verification method. This will allow you to secure your website and provide your visitors with encrypted communication.