Question posted in 
I’m trying to set up a Django project with docker + nginx following the tutorial Nginx and Let’s Encrypt with Docker in Less Than 5 Minutes.
The issue is when I run the script init-letsencrypt.sh I end up with failed challenges.
Here is the content of my script:
#!/bin/bash
if ! [ -x "$(command -v docker-compose)" ]; then
echo 'Error: docker-compose is not installed.' >&2
exit 1
fi
domains=(xxxx.yyyy.net www.xxxx.yyyy.net)
rsa_key_size=4096
data_path="./data/certbot"
email="[email protected]" # Adding a valid address is strongly recommended
staging=1 # Set to 1 if you're testing your setup to avoid hitting request limits
if [ -d "$data_path" ]; then
read -p "Existing data found for $domains. Continue and replace existing certificate? (y/N) " decision
if [ "$decision" != "Y" ] && [ "$decision" != "y" ]; then
exit
fi
fi
if [ ! -e "$data_path/conf/options-ssl-nginx.conf" ] || [ ! -e "$data_path/conf/ssl-dhparams.pem" ]; then
echo "### Downloading recommended TLS parameters ..."
mkdir -p "$data_path/conf/"
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/certbot/certbot/master/certbot-nginx/certbot_nginx/_internal/tls_configs/options-ssl-nginx.conf > "$data_path/conf/options-ssl-nginx.conf"
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/certbot/certbot/master/certbot/certbot/ssl-dhparams.pem > "$data_path/conf/ssl-dhparams.pem"
echo
fi
echo "### Creating dummy certificate for $domains ..."
path="/etc/letsencrypt/live/$domains"
mkdir -p "$data_path/conf/live/$domains"
docker-compose -f docker-compose-deploy.yml run --rm --entrypoint "
openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:$rsa_key_size -days 1
-keyout '$path/privkey.pem'
-out '$path/fullchain.pem'
-subj '/CN=localhost'" certbot
echo
echo "### Starting nginx ..."
docker-compose -f docker-compose-deploy.yml up --force-recreate -d proxy
echo
echo "### Deleting dummy certificate for $domains ..."
docker-compose -f docker-compose-deploy.yml run --rm --entrypoint "
rm -Rf /etc/letsencrypt/live/$domains &&
rm -Rf /etc/letsencrypt/archive/$domains &&
rm -Rf /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/$domains.conf" certbot
echo
echo "### Requesting Let's Encrypt certificate for $domains ..."
#Join $domains to -d args
domain_args=""
for domain in "${domains[@]}"; do
domain_args="$domain_args -d $domain"
done
# Select appropriate email arg
case "$email" in
"") email_arg="--register-unsafely-without-email" ;;
*) email_arg="--email $email" ;;
esac
# Enable staging mode if needed
if [ $staging != "0" ]; then staging_arg="--staging"; fi
docker-compose -f docker-compose-deploy.yml run --rm --entrypoint "
certbot -v certonly --webroot -w /var/www/certbot
$staging_arg
$email_arg
$domain_args
--rsa-key-size $rsa_key_size
--agree-tos
--force-renewal" certbot
echo
echo "### Reloading nginx ..."
docker-compose -f docker-compose-deploy.yml exec proxy nginx -s reload
And my nginx configuration file:
server {
listen 80;
server_name xxxx.yyyy.net;
location ^~ /.well-known/acme-challenge/ {
root /var/www/certbot;
}
location / {
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}
}
server {
listen 443 ssl;
server_name xxxx.yyyy.net;
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/xxxx.yyyy.net/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/xxxx.yyyy.net/privkey.pem;
include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;
ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem;
location /static {
alias /vol/static;
}
location / {
uwsgi_pass web:8000;
include /etc/nginx/uwsgi_params;
}
}
The output of the part that fails:
Requesting a certificate for xxxx.yyyy.net and www.xxxx.yyyy.net
Performing the following challenges:
http-01 challenge for xxxx.yyyy.net
http-01 challenge for www.xxxx.yyyy.net
Using the webroot path /var/www/certbot for all unmatched domains.
Waiting for verification...
Challenge failed for domain xxxx.yyyy.net
Challenge failed for domain www.xxxx.yyyy.net
http-01 challenge for xxxx.yyyy.net
http-01 challenge for www.xxxx.yyyy.net
Certbot failed to authenticate some domains (authenticator: webroot). The Certificate Authority reported these problems:
Domain: xxxx.yyyy.net
Type: connection
Detail: Fetching http://xxxx.yyyy.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/XJw9w39lRSSbPf-4tb45RLtTnSbjlUEi1f0Cqwsmt-8: Connection refused
Domain: www.xxxx.yyyy.net
Type: connection
Detail: Fetching http://www.xxxx.yyyy.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/b47s4WJARyOTS63oFkaji2nP7oOhiLx5hHp4kO9dCGI: Connection refused
Hint: The Certificate Authority failed to download the temporary challenge files created by Certbot. Ensure that the listed domains serve their content from the provided --webroot-path/-w and that files created there can be downloaded from the internet.
Cleaning up challenges
Some challenges have failed.
Ask for help or search for solutions at https://community.letsencrypt.org. See the logfile /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log or re-run Certbot with -v for more details.
ERROR: 1
One of the comments said:
But there’s no further explanation as to how to solve it.
4
Answers
Problem is nginx configuration file. The container fails to start up correctly because of missing certification files. I commented out the ssl server portion, rebuilt the image and executed the script again. Everything worked out just fine. After certificates were generated I just uncommented the ssl configuration, rebuilt the image and composed up the services.
Had the same issue;
The solution was ensuring I defined the volume blocks in both the nginx and certbot services correctly.
Also if you are using EC2 as your cloud server don’t forget to add inbound rules for ports 80 and 443.
A More Beginner-friendly Version!
I can confirm that the first answer that was posted (remove all lines regarding SSL certificate registration/HTTPS redirection when first running the
init-letsencrypt.sh) works perfectly!The lack of documentation is really annoying on this one, and i had to find the answer deep in the community section. Even for someone whose first language isn’t English this answer would be really difficult to find. I wish they documented more on this matter. 🙁
So here are some of the steps that you have to follow to resolve this issue…
docker-compose.ymland thenginx.conf/nginx/app.conffile.init-letsencrypt.shscript.docker-compose.ymland thenginx.conf/nginx/app.conffile. (If you’re on Git, just revert your commits)docker-compose up -d --build. Then run theinit-letsencrypt.shscript again.Hope this helps, and wish y’all the best of luck!!
P/S: The back-end stack I used was Flask + Celery (Allows Flask to Run Heavy Tasks Asyncronously) + Redis (A Bridge/Middleman Between Flask and Celery) + NGINX + Certbot all running inside individual docker containers, chained using docker-compose. I deployed it on a DigitalOcean Droplet VPS. (VPS is essentially a computer OS that runs on the internet, 24/7)
For newbies, Docker: Think of Python’s
virtualenvor Node.js’s localizednode_modulesbut for OS-level/C-based dependencies. Like those that can be only installed through package managers such as Linux’sapt-get install, macOS’sbrew install, or Windows’schoco install.Docker Compose: e.g. The client and the server may have different OS-level dependencies and you want to separate them so they don’t conflict with each other. You can only allow certain communications between by "chaining" them through docker-compose.
What’s NGINX? It’s a reverse-proxy solution; TLDR: you can connect the domain/URL you purchased and direct it to your web app. Let’s Encrypt allows the server to have that green chain lock thing next to your address for secure communication.
Also important thing to note: Do NOT install NGINX or Redis OUTSIDE of the Docker container on the Linux terminal! That will cause conflicts (ports 443 and 80 already being occupied). 443 is for HTTPS, 80 is for HTTP.
These are the tutorial I used for setting up my tech stack:
I can also share my
docker-compose.ymlfile below for your reference:Also sharing my
DockerfileJUST IN CASE,All the notes I made while resolving this problem: