Welcome to certbot_dns_directadmin’s documentation!

The certbot-dns-directadmin plugin automates the process of completing a dns-01 challenge (DNS01) by creating, and subsequently removing, TXT records using the DirectAdmin API.

Named Arguments

Credentials

Use of this plugin requires an account on a DirectAdmin Server.

Supported are both Username/Password authentication or Login Key.

To use Login Key authentication (Recommended) you will need to create a key with the following permissions:

  • CMD_API_LOGIN_TEST

  • CMD_API_DNS_CONTROL

  • CMD_API_SHOW_DOMAINS

  • CMD_API_DOMAIN_POINTER

DirectAdmin provides instructions for creating a login key - here

Example credentials file:
# The DirectAdmin Server url
# include the scheme and the port number (Normally 2222)
dns_directadmin_url = https://my.directadminserver.com:2222

# The DirectAdmin username
dns_directadmin_username = username

# The DirectAdmin password
dns_directadmin_password = aSuperStrongPasswordorLoginKey

The path to this file can be provided interactively or using the --dns-directadmin-credentials command-line argument. Certbot records the path to this file for use during renewal, but does not store the file’s contents.

Caution

You should protect these API credentials as you would a password. Users who can read this file can use these credentials to issue some types of API calls on your behalf, limited by the permissions assigned to the account. 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 domains these credentials are authorized to manage.

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 certificate for example.com
certbot certonly \
  --authenticator dns-directadmin \
  --dns-directadmin-credentials ~/.secrets/certbot/directadmin.ini \
  -d example.com
To acquire a single certificate for both example.com and www.example.com
certbot certonly \
  --authenticator dns-directadmin \
  --dns-directadmin-credentials ~/.secrets/certbot/directadmin.ini \
  -d example.com \
  -d www.example.com
To acquire a certificate for example.com, waiting 120 seconds for DNS propagation
certbot certonly \
  --authenticator dns-directadmin \
  --dns-directadmin-credentials ~/.secrets/certbot/directadmin.ini \
  --dns-directadmin-propagation-seconds 120 \
  -d example.com
To acquire a certificate for example.com, waiting default 60 seconds for DNS propagation using docker image
sudo docker run -it --rm --name certbot \
     -v "${PWD}/letsencrypt/etc:/etc/letsencrypt" \
     cybercinch/certbot-dns-directadmin certonly --agree-tos \
     --authenticator dns-directadmin \
     --dns-directadmin-credentials=/etc/letsencrypt/credentials.ini \
     --register-unsafely-without-email \
     -d example.com

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