Windows - Generate Lets Encrypt SSL Certificate

Windows - Generate Lets Encrypt SSL Certificate

This article discusses setting up a free SSL certificate for your Accessit Web App using Let’s Encrypt on Windows Servers. Generated certificates will also renew automatically. 

 Requirements

  • The Accessit Web App must be available from the internet on port 80. For details see Enabling access to the Accessit web app from the Internet.

  • Domain name you wish to use for the SSL certificate, assigned external IP and preferably also to internal IP of the Windows server machine. For example: library.accessit.online

  • PowerShell script for exporting certificate as .pfx and saved into the Accessit folder. This can be downloaded here. 


Steps  

Checking external connection

Ensure that you can successfully load your Accessit Web App on port 80 from the internet. 

In this guide we’ll be using http://library.accessit.online

If your Web App is using a different port externally (2000, 2001, 8080), you’ll have to make changes in your Port Forwarding rules and Web App configuration. For details see Changing Web App Port.


 

Installing Certify The Web

Download and install the Certify The Web application from: https://certifytheweb.com/

Download the PowerShell script and edit it. Specify keystore password in the Password variable and domain name in the CertName variable.


 

Setting up the configuration

Start Certify The Web and select New Certificate.


Give a name to the certificate, enter your domain name, and select Add Domains.

 

Under Authorization, set the Challenge Type as http-01


Set the Website Root Directory to  C:\Program Files\Access-It Software\Accessit\tomee\webapps

Enable Show Advanced Options and select Scripting from the menu on the right.


Add the downloaded PowerShell script to the Post-request PS Script field.


 


Generating the certificate

Select the Test option to verify that you can connect successfully to the Let's Encrypt servers.


The response should look something like this:

 

Now you are ready to request the new certificate by clicking the Request Certificate option.

 
Once the process is complete, go to C:\Program Files\Access-It Software\Accessit\tomee\conf folder

Ensure that the certificate was successfully generated. 
 
When generated, enable the certificate in your Accessit Web App config. For details, see Setting up HTTPS-SSL.