LetsEncrypt SSL for EF-CX

If the EFCX solution is deployed using an FQDN that is accessible from the internet, a letsencrypt based SSL is also another option to secure the traffic using HTTPS.

Follow these steps to enable LE based SSL certificate for the EFCX solution.

Deploy Cert-Manager

if the cert-manager is not already deployed, you can run this command to deploy it.

BASH

helm upgrade --install=true \
--namespace cert-manager \
--create-namespace \
--set installCRDs=true \
cert-manager oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts/cert-manager

verify all the pods are in running state

CODE

kubectl get pods -n cert-manager

sample output

CODE

# kubectl get pods -n cert-manager
NAME                                      READY   STATUS    RESTARTS      AGE
cert-manager-6fb4cc6c55-k7wnh             1/1     Running   4 (17h ago)   72d
cert-manager-cainjector-86f7f4749-qpgvt   1/1     Running   4 (17h ago)   72d
cert-manager-webhook-66c85f8577-vlljw     1/1     Running   4 (17h ago)   72d

Create ClusterIssuer Resource

once the deployment of cert-manager is ready, create the ClusterIssuer resource.

Create ClusterIssuer reource file cert-manager-cluster-issuer.yaml.

YAML

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: ef-letsencrypt-prod
  namespace: cert-manager
spec:
  acme:
    # The ACME server URL
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    # Email address used for ACME registration
    email: devops@expertflow.com
    # Name of a secret used to store the ACME account private key
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: ef-letsencrypt-prod
    # Enable the HTTP-01 challenge provider
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx  #  Change the class: nginx to traefik when using traefik ingress controller ( default in k3s based deployments )

apply the manifest

CODE

kubectl apply -f cert-manager-cluster-issuer.yaml

get the status of the ClusterIssuer ( you might have to wait for sometime to get the ClusterIssuer ready )

a ready state ClusterIssuer is required before proceeding with next steps.

sample output

CODE

# kubectl get -f cert-manager-cluster-issuer.yaml
NAME                  READY   AGE
ef-letsencrypt-prod   True    55m

once the ClusterIssuer is in the ready state, update the ingress manifests to use the newly created ClusterIssuer.

Create Certificate ( Optional )

This step is completely optional

We are not creating any certificate as the ingresses created below when applied, will automatically call the respective ClusterIssuer to generate a certificate with default choices. However, if there is a requirement of creating a certificate with customizable options like key size ( default 2048), commonName, cipher algorithms, it becomes necessary to add them to the Certificate request before it is signed by the ClusterIssuer.

create a file ef-certificate.yaml with below given contents

below given is a template of a Certificate request which contains most of the possible options to be customized if required

CODE

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: devops.expertflow.com
  namespace: expertflow  # repeat this for ef-external, ef-cti, ef-voice
spec:
  # Secret names are always required.
  secretName: le-ef-ingress-tls-secret

  # secretTemplate is optional. If set, these annotations and labels will be
  # copied to the Secret named example-com-tls. These labels and annotations will
  # be re-reconciled if the Certificate's secretTemplate changes. secretTemplate
  # is also enforced, so relevant label and annotation changes on the Secret by a
  # third party will be overwriten by cert-manager to match the secretTemplate.
  secretTemplate:
    annotations:
      my-secret-annotation-1: "foo"
      my-secret-annotation-2: "bar"
    labels:
      my-secret-label: foo

  duration: 2160h # 90d
  renewBefore: 360h # 15d
  subject:
    organizations:
      - expertflow
  # The use of the common name field has been deprecated since 2000 and is
  # discouraged from being used.
  commonName: devops.expertflow.com
  isCA: false
  privateKey:
    algorithm: RSA
    encoding: PKCS1
    size: 2048
  usages:
    - server auth
    - client auth
  # At least one of a DNS Name, URI, or IP address is required.
  dnsNames:
    - devops.expertflow.com
    - www.devops.expertflow.com
  uris:
    - spiffe://cluster.local/ns/sandbox/sa/example
  ipAddresses:
    - 192.168.0.5
  # Issuer references are always required.
  issuerRef:
    name: ef-letsencrypt-prod
    # We can reference ClusterIssuers by changing the kind here.
    # The default value is Issuer (i.e. a locally namespaced Issuer)
    kind: Issuer
    # This is optional since cert-manager will default to this value however
    # if you are using an external issuer, change this to that issuer group.
    group: cert-manager.io

apply the ef-certificate.yaml

CODE

kubectl apply -f ef-certificate.yaml

for EFCX, this has to be applied for both expertflow and ef-external namespaces.

Update the ingress manifests

When using nginx ingress controller

add the cert-manager/cluster-issuer annotation to ingress manifests.

CODE

sed -i  '/nginx$/a\    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: "ef-letsencrypt-prod"' cim/Ingresses/nginx/*.yaml

change the name of the secret holding the SSL certificate generated by cert-manager.

CODE

sed -i -e 's/ef-ingress-tls-secret/le-ef-ingress-tls-secret/g' cim/Ingresses/nginx/*.yaml

Apply the ingress manifests

CODE

kubectl  apply -f cim/Ingresses/nginx/

When using traefik as ingress controller

add the cert-manager/cluster-issuer annotation to ingress manifests.

CODE

sed -i  '/traefik$/a\    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: "ef-letsencrypt-prod"' cim/Ingresses/traefik/*.yaml

change the name of the secret holding the SSL certificate generated by cert-manager.

CODE

sed -i -e 's/ef-ingress-tls-secret/le-ef-ingress-tls-secret/g' cim/Ingresses/traefik/*.yaml

Apply the ingress manifests

CODE

kubectl  apply -f cim/Ingresses/traefik/*.yaml

Validation

after the ingresses are applied, all required namespaces are populated with the required Certificate as secret.

CODE

# k get certificate -A
NAMESPACE     NAME                          READY   SECRET                        AGE
ef-external   le-ef-ingress-tls-secret      True    le-ef-ingress-tls-secret      51m
expertflow    le-ef-ingress-tls-secret      True    le-ef-ingress-tls-secret      51m
expertflow    le-le-ef-ingress-tls-secret   True    le-le-ef-ingress-tls-secret   51m