cert-manager

cert-manager is a certificate manager for Kubernetes and OpenShift.

API Keys

If you haven't already, setup an API key for your subdomain in the console. Save your subdomain information and credentials to a JSON file like this:

credentials.json

{
  "username": "<yourApiKeyId>",
  "password": "<yourApiKeySecret>",
  "fulldomain": "<yourSubdomain>.localhostcert.net",
  "subdomain": "<yourSubdomain>",
  "server_url": "https://api.getlocalcert.net/api/v1/acme-dns-compat",
  "allowfrom": []
}

cert-manager uses a slightly different format to manage these keys:

cert-manager-creds.json

{
  "<yourSubdomain>.localhostcert.net": {
    "username": "<yourApiKeyId>",
    "password": "<yourApiKeySecret>",
    "fulldomain": "<yourSubdomain>.localhostcert.net",
    "subdomain": "<yourSubdomain>",
    "server_url": "https://api.getlocalcert.net/api/v1/acme-dns-compat",
    "allowfrom": []
  }
}

You can convert from a credentials.json file to a cert-manager-creds.json file using:

jq '{ (.fulldomain) : (.) }' credentials.json > cert-manager-creds.json

This instructs cert-manager to use your subdomain as the verification domain.

Protect these files as they contain secrets.

Issue a certificate

Install cert-manager in your cluster, then configure an issuer and a certificate. Edit the manifest below to include your email address in email and the domain name you registered in dnsNames.

my-certificate.yaml

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Issuer
metadata:
  name: le-staging-issuer
spec:
  acme:
    email: me@example.com
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: cert-manager-demo-private-key
    # Change this to Let's Encrypt production once you've validated your setup
    server: https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    solvers:
    - dns01:
        acmeDNS:
          host: https://api.getlocalcert.net/api/v1/acme-dns-compat
          accountSecretRef:
            name: acme-dns
            key: cert-manager-creds.json
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: cert-manager-test
spec:
  dnsNames:
    - cert-manager-demo.localcert.net
    # A wildcard cert as well (use quotes)
    - "*.cert-manager-demo.localcert.net"
  secretName: cert-manager-test
  issuerRef:
    name: le-staging-issuer

Note

The cert-manager-creds.json secret should go in the same namespace as the Issuer resource. If using a ClusterIssuer, then the cert-manager-creds.json secret should go in the same namespace as cert-manager.

Configure the credentials and install the resources:

kubectl create secret generic acme-dns --from-file cert-manager-creds.json
kubectl apply -f my-certificate.yaml

Checking certificate status

You can check if the certificate was issued using:

kubectl get certificate cert-manager-test

If you're seeing issues, check a few other resources as well:

kubectl describe certificaterequest
kubectl describe issuer le-staging-issuer
kubectl describe challenge

Let's Encrypt environments

First issue a certificate with Let's Encrypt Staging (server: https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory), which allows you to test that you've configured everything correctly. Once you're ready, switch to Let's Encrypt Production (server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory), or another CA.