Letsencrypt

Debian 9

apt update
apt install certbot

Generate Strong Dh (Diffie-Hellman) Group

openssl dhparam -out /etc/ssl/certs/dhparam.pem 2048

Obtaining a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
Webroot way

mkdir -p /var/lib/letsencrypt/.well-known
chgrp www-data /var/lib/letsencrypt
chmod g+s /var/lib/letsencrypt

To avoid duplicates and to support multiple vhosts, create config files:

/etc/apache2/conf-available/letsencrypt.conf

Alias /.well-known/acme-challenge/ "/var/lib/letsencrypt/.well-known/acme-challenge/"
<Directory "/var/lib/letsencrypt/">
    AllowOverride None
    Options MultiViews Indexes SymLinksIfOwnerMatch IncludesNoExec
    Require method GET POST OPTIONS
</Directory>

/etc/apache2/conf-available/ssl-params.conf

SSLCipherSuite EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH
SSLProtocol All -SSLv2 -SSLv3 -TLSv1 -TLSv1.1
SSLHonorCipherOrder On
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload"
Header always set X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options nosniff
# Requires Apache >= 2.4
SSLCompression off
SSLUseStapling on
SSLStaplingCache "shmcb:logs/stapling-cache(150000)"
# Requires Apache >= 2.4.11
SSLSessionTickets Off

SSLOpenSSLConfCmd DHParameters "/etc/ssl/certs/dhparam.pem" 

Enable mod_ssl and mod_headers in apache:

a2enmod ssl
a2enmod headers

Also enable http2 module

a2enmod http2

Enable SSL config

a2enconf letsencrypt
a2enconf ssl-params

Reload apache config

systemctl reload apache2

Now use certbot with the webroot plugin to obtain the Letsencrypt certificate files

certbot certonly --agree-tos --email admin@example.com --webroot -w /var/lib/letsencrypt/ -d example.com -d www.example.com

Adjust/create virtualhost file for the domain and enforce https, redirect www to non-www if desired:

/etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf

<VirtualHost *:80> 
  ServerName example.com
  ServerAlias www.example.com

  Redirect permanent / https://example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName example.com
  ServerAlias www.example.com

  Protocols h2 http/1.1

  <If "%{HTTP_HOST} == 'www.example.com'">
    Redirect permanent / https://example.com/
  </If>

  DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html
  ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.com-error.log
  CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.com-access.log combined

  SSLEngine On
  SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem

  # Other Apache Configuration

</VirtualHost>

check configuration, then reload config

apachectl configtest
systemctl reload apache2

To auto-renew the cert:

/etc/cron.d/certbot

0 */12 * * * root test -x /usr/bin/certbot -a \! -d /run/systemd/system && perl -e 'sleep int(rand(3600))' && certbot -q renew --renew-hook "systemctl reload apache2"

Test renewal process

certbot renew --dry-run

https://linuxize.com/post/secure-apache-with-let-s-encrypt-on-debian-9/