acme-dns-certbot-joohoi VS mkcert

Check this out https://github.com/joohoi/acme-dns-certbot-joohoi

we can use tool such as certbot to get certificates from let's encrypt (in traditional way). and to get one using DNS-01 challenge you can use something like acme-dns-certbot. even further the addition of TXT DNS record can be automated using a provider (in our case duckdns) specific tool/plugin for example certbot_dns_duckdns

DNS alias mode:

* https://dan.langille.org/2019/02/01/acme-domain-alias-mode/

* https://github.com/acmesh-official/acme.sh/wiki/DNS-alias-mo...

* https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/technical-deep-dive-se...

You want the name "internal.example.com". In your external DNS you create a CNAME from "_acme-challenge.internal.example.com" and point it to (e.g.) "internal.example.net" or "internal.dns-auth.example.com"

When you request the certificate you specify the "dns-01" method. The issuer (e.g., LE) will go to the the external DNS server for the look up, see that it is a CNAME and then follow the CNAME/alias, and do the verification at the final hostname.

So your ACME client has to do a DNS (TXT) record update, which can often be done via various APIs, e.g.:

* https://github.com/AnalogJ/lexicon

You can even run your own DNS server locally (in a DMZ?) if your DNS provider does not have an convenient API. There are servers written for this use case:

* https://github.com/joohoi/acme-dns

* https://github.com/joohoi/acme-dns-certbot-joohoi

* https://github.com/pawitp/acme-dns-server

The experimental HTTPS flag relies on mkcert, designed for a single development system. If you run a Docker container, the flag won’t configure your local browser to trust its certificate.

The author mentions difficulties with HTTPS and trying stuff locally.

I've had some success with mkcert [1] to easily create certificates trusted by browsers, I can suggest to look into this. You are your own root CA, I think it can work without an internet connection.

[1] https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert/

Solution: mkcert – Your Zero-Configuration HTTPS Enabler Meet mkcert, a user-friendly, zero-configuration tool designed for creating locally-trusted development certificates. Find it on its GitHub page and follow the instructions tailored for your operating system. For Mac users employing Homebrew, simply execute the following commands in your terminal:

Well, Certifi does not ship with your company's certificates! So requesting internal services may come with additional painful extra steps! Also for a local development environment that uses mkcert for example!

My project, getlocalcert.net[1] may be the one you're thinking of.

Since I'm also building in this space, I'll give my perspective. Local certificate generation is complicated. If you spend the time, you can figure it out, but it's begging for a simpler solution. You can use tools like mkcert[2] for anything that's local to your machine. However, if you're already using ACME in production, maybe you'd prefer to use ACME locally? I think that's what Anchor offers, a unified approach.

There's a couple references in the Anchor blog about solving the distribution problem by building better tooling[3]. I'm eager to learn more, that's a tough nut to crack. My theory for getlocalcert is that the distribution problem is too difficult (for me) to solve, so I layer the tool on top of Let's Encrypt certificates instead. The end result for both tools is a trusted TLS certificate issued via ACME automation.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36674224

2. https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert

3. https://blog.anchor.dev/the-acme-gap-introducing-anchor-part...

Looks like step-ca/step-cli [1] and mkcert [2] have been mentioned. Another related tool is XCA [3] - a gui tool to manage CAs and server/client TLS certificates. It takes off some of the tedium in using openssl cli directly. It also stores the certs and keys in an encrypted database. It doesn't solve the problem of getting the root CA certificate into the system store or of hosting the revocation list. I use XCA to create and store the root CA. Intermediate CAs signed with it are passed to other issuers like vault and step-issuer.

[1] https://smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/

[2] https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert

[3] https://hohnstaedt.de/xca/

We use mkcert for this, it works wonderfully.

https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert