HTTPS setup: Nginx Reverse Proxy+ Letsencrypt+ AWS Cloud EC2 + Docker

Below is a basic setup guide:

Step-1: Open config/nginx.conf replace test.karthickcse05demo.xyz with the domain you wish to configure. It can be subdomain like mine or apex domain.

Step-2: You can change the nginx version in docker/nginx.Dockerfile

Step-3: Open docker-compose-cert.yaml and replace karthickcse05@gmail.com and test.karthickcse05demo.xyz

Step-4: In a terminal (T1) run docker-compose up --build nginx monitor the logs for errors as we follow next steps

Step-5: In another terminal (T2) run docker-compose -f docker-compose-cert.yaml up --build

Step-6: If things go well, the second terminal (T2) will show something like this

letsencrypt_1  | Certificate is saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem
letsencrypt_1  | Key is saved at:         /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
letsencrypt_1  | This certificate expires on 2021-10-20.
letsencrypt_1  | These files will be updated when the certificate renews.
letsencrypt_1  |
letsencrypt_1  | NEXT STEPS:
letsencrypt_1  | - The certificate will need to be renewed before it expires. Certbot can automatically renew the certificate in the background, but you may need to take steps to enable that functionality. See https://certbot.org/renewal-setup for instructions.
letsencrypt_1  |
letsencrypt_1  | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
letsencrypt_1  | If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by:
letsencrypt_1  |  * Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt:   https://letsencrypt.org/donate
letsencrypt_1  |  * Donating to EFF:                    https://eff.org/donate-le
letsencrypt_1  | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Step-7: Close the nginx container (press Ctrl+c or CMD+c) running in first terminal (T1) and replace with below config (after replacing the 4 occurence of test.karthickcse05demo.xyz with your domain name)

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name test.karthickcse05demo.xyz;
location / {
        rewrite ^ https://$host$request_uri? permanent;
    }
location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge {
        allow all;
        root /tmp/acme_challenge;
    }
}
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name test.karthickcse05demo.xyz;
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/test.karthickcse05demo.xyz/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/test.karthickcse05demo.xyz/privkey.pem;
}

Step-8: Run the nginx container again but with -d this time docker-compose up --build -d nginx SSL certificates should be installed. Verify by visiting your domain. You will get an Nginx 404 but it will be served over https. Check the certificate details.

Step-9: Setup crontab for auto-renew by running command crontab -e and then pasting the below stuff there. Make sure you put the absolute path to the docker-compose file. 0 0 * * 0 expr `date +\%W` \% 2 > /dev/null || docker-compose -f <absolute path to folder>/docker-compose-cert.yaml up && docker exec -it nginx-service nginx -s reload

The cron job should do two things:

1. Run the letsencrypt certbot container. docker-compose -f /docker-compose-cert.yaml up
2. Tell nginx server to reload newly installed certificates docker exec -it nginx-service nginx -s reload