certbot-dns-easydns

EasyDNS DNS Authenticator plugin for Certbot

This plugin automates the process of completing a dns-01 challenge by creating, and subsequently removing, TXT records using the EasyDNS REST API.

Configuration of EasyDNS

As an EasyDNS user with at least one domain being served by EasyDNS, log into the control panel and navigate under "User" to "Security" and then to the bottom, to the REST API section. You may need to complete the registration form in order to receive credentials, but they should be issued automatically once the form is submitted.

The user token is like a username or public key, but should probably still be kept confidential. The API key is issued by clicking "Regenerate" and is only shown for a short time in the browser and then never again; be ready to copy it and stuff it into some sort of protected datastore. Both must be used together to authenticate with the API. See below about how to create a file for the credentials.

It is possible to direct the endpoint, but currently there is only ever one correct value: https://rest.easydns.net

Installation

pip install certbot
pip install certbot-dns-easydns

Named Arguments

To start using DNS authentication for EasyDNS, pass the following arguments on certbot's command line:

--authenticator dns-easydns	select the authenticator plugin (Required)
--dns-easydns-credentials	EasyDNS Remote User credentials INI file (Required)
--dns-easydns-propagation-seconds	waiting time for DNS to propagate before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS record (Default: 120, Recommended: >= 600)

Credentials

Credentials for access to the EasyDNS REST API are required in order for this plugin to work. The credentials are stored in a separate INI file which should have mode 0600 for security (see below). The file is often stored in a location such as /root/.secrets or /etc/letsencrypt/.secrets and perhaps named for the authenticator, e.g. /root/.secrets/easydns.ini. Henceforth we shall refer to this file as credentials.ini.

An example credentials.ini file:

dns_easydns_usertoken = myremoteuser
dns_easydns_userkey = verysecureremoteuserpassword
dns_easydns_endpoint = https://rest.easydns.net

The full path to this file can be provided interactively or by using the --dns-easydns-credentials command-line argument; that value appears in the domain.conf which Certbot creates to describe the domain which is the subject of the cert. Certbot records the absolute path to this file for use during renewal, but does not store the file's contents.

The domain.conf file is created by certbot if it is not present, when the SSL cert is first provisioned by running the certbot certonly command (example below). If the --dns-easydns-credentials option is used, the resulting domain.conf file should reflect the location provided without any need for editing by the user. However, if the credentials file changes locations, then the domain.conf file will need to be updated to reflect the new location. It is worthy of note that in the domain.conf file, the parameter uses underscores in place of hyphens.

Note

Please note that providing the endpoint is required, though it is currently always the same; this is for forward compatibility.

Caution!

You should protect these API credentials as you would the password to your EasyDNS account. Users who can read this file can use these credentials to issue arbitrary API calls on your behalf. Users who can cause Certbot to run using these credentials can complete a dns-01 challenge to acquire new certificates or revoke existing certificates for associated domains, even if those domains aren't being managed by this server.

Certbot will emit a warning if it detects that the credentials file can be accessed by other users on your system. The warning reads "Unsafe permissions on credentials configuration file", followed by the path to the credentials file. This warning will be emitted each time Certbot uses the credentials file, including for renewal, and cannot be silenced except by addressing the issue (e.g., by using a command like chmod 600 to restrict access to the file).

Examples

To acquire a single certificate for both example.com and *.example.com, waiting 900 seconds for DNS propagation:

certbot certonly \
  --authenticator dns-easydns \
  --dns-easydns-credentials /etc/letsencrypt/.secrets/domain.tld.ini \
  --dns-easydns-propagation-seconds 900 \
  --server https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory \
  --agree-tos \
  --rsa-key-size 4096 \
  -d 'example.com' \
  -d '*.example.com'

Docker

In order to create a docker container with a certbot-dns-easydns installation, create an empty directory with the following Dockerfile:

FROM certbot/certbot
RUN pip install certbot-dns-easydns

Proceed to build the image:

docker build -t certbot/dns-easydns .

Once that's finished, the application can be run as follows:

docker run --rm \
   -v /var/lib/letsencrypt:/var/lib/letsencrypt \
   -v /etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt \
   --cap-drop=all \
   certbot/dns-easydns certonly \
   --authenticator dns-easydns \
   --dns-easydns-propagation-seconds 900 \
   --dns-easydns-credentials \
       /etc/letsencrypt/.secrets/domain.tld.ini \
   --no-self-upgrade \
   --keep-until-expiring --non-interactive --expand \
   --server https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory \
   -d example.com -d '*.example.com'

It is suggested to secure the folder as follows:: chown root:root /etc/letsencrypt/.secrets chmod 600 /etc/letsencrypt/.secrets