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Let's Encrypt for VMware ESXi with easy installation using pre-built VIB or offline bundle. Auto-renewal of certificates.
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w2c/letsencrypt-esxi
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w2c-letsencrypt-esxi is a lightweight open-source solution to automatically obtain and renew Let's Encrypt certificates on standalone VMware ESXi servers. Packaged as aVIB archive orOffline Bundle, install/upgrade/removal is possible directly via the web UI or, alternatively, with just a few SSH commands.
Features:
- Fully-automated: Requesting and renewing certificates without user interaction
- Auto-renewal: A cronjob runs once a week to check if a certificate is due for renewal
- Persistent: The certificate, private key and all settings are preserved over ESXi upgrades
- Configurable: Customizable parameters for renewal interval, Let's Encrypt (ACME) backend, etc
Successfully tested with ESXi 6.5, 6.7, 7.0, 8.0.
Many ESXi servers are accessible over the Internet and use self-signed X.509 certificates for TLS connections. This situation not only leads to annoying warnings in the browser when calling the Web UI, but can also be the reason for serious security problems. Despite the enormous popularity ofLet's Encrypt, there is no convenient way to automatically request, renew or remove certificates in ESXi.
Before installingw2c-letsencrypt-esxi, ensure the following preconditions are met:
- Your server is publicly reachable over the Internet
- AFully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is set in ESXi. Something like
localhost.localdomainwill not work - The hostname you specified can be resolved via A and/or AAAA records in the corresponding DNS zone
Note: As soon as you install this software, any existing, non Let's Encrypt certificate gets replaced!
w2c-letsencrypt-esxi can be installed via SSH or the Web UI (= Embedded Host Client).
$ wget -O /tmp/w2c-letsencrypt-esxi.vib https://github.com/w2c/letsencrypt-esxi/releases/latest/download/w2c-letsencrypt-esxi.vib$ esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/w2c-letsencrypt-esxi.vib -fInstallation Result Message: Operation finished successfully. Reboot Required:false VIBs Installed: web-wack-creations_bootbank_w2c-letsencrypt-esxi_1.0.0-0.0.0 VIBs Removed: VIBs Skipped:$ esxcli software vib list| grep w2cw2c-letsencrypt-esxi 1.0.0-0.0.0 web-wack-creations CommunitySupported 2022-05-29$ cat /var/log/syslog.log| grep w2c2022-05-29T20:01:46Z /etc/init.d/w2c-letsencrypt: Running'start' action2022-05-29T20:01:46Z /opt/w2c-letsencrypt/renew.sh: Starting certificate renewal.2022-05-29T20:01:46Z /opt/w2c-letsencrypt/renew.sh: Existing certfor example.com not issued by Let's Encrypt. Requesting a new one!2022-05-29T20:02:02Z /opt/w2c-letsencrypt/renew.sh: Success: Obtained and installed a certificate from Let's Encrypt.
- Storage -> Datastores: Use the Datastore browser to upload theVIB file to a datastore path of your choice.
- Manage -> Security & users: Set the acceptance level of your host toCommunity.
- Manage -> Packages: Switch to the list of installed packages, click onInstall update and enter the absolute path on the datastore where your just uploaded VIB file resides.
- While the VIB is installed, ESXi requests a certificate from Let's Encrypt. If you reload the Web UI afterwards, the newly requested certificate should already be active. If not, see theWiki for troubleshooting.
If you want to try out the script before putting it into production, you may want to test against thestaging environment of Let's Encrypt. Probably, you also do not wish to renew certificates once in 30 days but in longer or shorter intervals. Most variables ofrenew.sh can be adjusted by creating arenew.cfg file with your overwritten values.
vi /opt/w2c-letsencrypt/renew.cfg
# Request a certificate from the staging environmentDIRECTORY_URL="https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"# Set the renewal interval to 15 daysRENEW_DAYS=15
To apply your modifications, run/etc/init.d/w2c-letsencrypt start
Remove the installedw2c-letsencrypt-esxi package via SSH:
$ esxcli software vib remove -n w2c-letsencrypt-esxiRemoval Result Message: Operation finished successfully. Reboot Required:false VIBs Installed: VIBs Removed: web-wack-creations_bootbank_w2c-letsencrypt-esxi_1.0.0-0.0.0 VIBs Skipped:This action will purgew2c-letsencrypt-esxi, undo any changes to system files (cronjob and port redirection) and finally call/sbin/generate-certificates to generate and install a new, self-signed certificate.
Usually, fully-automated. No interaction required.
If you change the hostname on our ESXi instance, the domain the certificate is issued for will mismatch. In that case, either re-installw2c-letsencrypt-esxi or simply run/etc/init.d/w2c-letsencrypt start, e.g.:
$ esxcfg-advcfg -s new-example.com /Misc/hostnameValue of HostName is new-example.com$ /etc/init.d/w2c-letsencrypt startRunning'start' actionStarting certificate renewal.Existing cert issuedfor example.com but current domain name is new-example.com. Requesting a new one!Generating RSA private key, 4096 bit long modulus...
You already have a valid certificate from Let's Encrypt but nonetheless want to renew it now:
rm /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt/etc/init.d/w2c-letsencrypt start
- Checks if the current certificate is issued by Let's Encrypt and due for renewal (default: 30d in advance)
- Generates a 4096-bit RSA keypair and CSR
- Instructs
rhttpproxyto route all requests to/.well-known/acme-challengeto a custom port - Configures ESXi firewall to allow outgoing HTTP connections
- Usesacme-tiny for all interactions with Let's Encrypt
- Starts an HTTP server on a non-privileged port to fulfill Let's Encrypt challenges
- Installs the retrieved certificate and restarts all services relying on it
- Adds a cronjob to check periodically if the certificate is due for renewal (default: weekly on Sunday, 00:00)
Here is a sample output when invoking the script manually via SSH:
$ /etc/init.d/w2c-letsencrypt startRunning'start' actionStarting certificate renewal.Existing certfor example.com not issued by Let's Encrypt. Requesting a new one!Generating RSA private key, 4096 bit long modulus***************************************************************************++++e is 65537 (0x10001)Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 8120 ...Parsing account key...Parsing CSR...Found domains: example.comGetting directory...Directory found!Registering account...Already registered!Creating new order...Order created!Verifying example.com...127.0.0.1 - - [29/May/2022 13:14:14] "GET /.well-known/acme-challenge/Ps8VO0v9YzohqfHgnW1xQkHuOKnY0nDakmV9QnrVnVE HTTP/1.1" 200 -127.0.0.1 - - [29/May/2022 13:14:16] "GET /.well-known/acme-challenge/Ps8VO0v9YzohqfHgnW1xQkHuOKnY0nDakmV9QnrVnVE HTTP/1.1" 200 -127.0.0.1 - - [29/May/2022 13:14:17] "GET /.well-known/acme-challenge/Ps8VO0v9YzohqfHgnW1xQkHuOKnY0nDakmV9QnrVnVE HTTP/1.1" 200 -127.0.0.1 - - [29/May/2022 13:14:17] "GET /.well-known/acme-challenge/Ps8VO0v9YzohqfHgnW1xQkHuOKnY0nDakmV9QnrVnVE HTTP/1.1" 200 -127.0.0.1 - - [29/May/2022 13:14:21] "GET /.well-known/acme-challenge/Ps8VO0v9YzohqfHgnW1xQkHuOKnY0nDakmV9QnrVnVE HTTP/1.1" 200 -example.com verified!Signing certificate...Certificate signed!Success: Obtained and installed a certificate from Let's Encrypt.hostd signalled.rabbitmqproxy is not runningVMware HTTP reverse proxy signalled.sfcbd-init: Getting Exclusive access, please wait...sfcbd-init: Exclusive access granted.vpxa signalled.vsanperfsvc is not running./etc/init.d/vvold ssl_reset, PID 2129283vvold is not running.
See theWiki for possible pitfalls and solutions.
w2c-letsencrypt-esxi is free software;you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of theGNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty ofMERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See theGNU General Public License for more details.You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public Licensealong with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.About
Let's Encrypt for VMware ESXi with easy installation using pre-built VIB or offline bundle. Auto-renewal of certificates.