Snaps are applications packaged with all their dependencies to run on all popular Linux distributions from a single build. They update automatically and roll back gracefully.
Snaps are discoverable and installable from the Snap Store, an app store with an audience of millions.
Enable snapd
On Debian 9 (Stretch) and newer, snap can be installed directly from the command line:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install coreInstall certbot-dns-cloudflare
To install certbot-dns-cloudflare, simply use the following command:
sudo snap install certbot-dns-cloudflarecertbot-dns-cloudflare
The dns_cloudflare plugin automates the process of completing a dns-01 challenge (DNS01) by creating, and subsequently removing, TXT records using the Cloudflare API.
Credentials
Use of this plugin requires a configuration file containing Cloudflare API credentials, obtained from your Cloudflare dashboard.
Previously, Cloudflare’s “Global API Key” was used for authentication, however this key can access the entire Cloudflare API for all domains in your account, meaning it could cause a lot of damage if leaked.
Cloudflare’s newer API Tokens can be restricted to specific domains and operations, and are therefore now the recommended authentication option.
The Token needed by Certbot requires Zone:DNS:Edit permissions for only the zones you need certificates for.
Using Cloudflare Tokens also requires at least version 2.3.1 of the cloudflare python module. If the version that automatically installed with this plugin is older than that, and you can’t upgrade it on your system, you’ll have to stick to the Global key.
# Cloudflare API token used by Certbot
dns_cloudflare_api_token = 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567# Cloudflare API credentials used by Certbot
dns_cloudflare_email = cloudflare@example.com
dns_cloudflare_api_key = 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234The path to this file can be provided interactively or using the --dns-cloudflare-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 the password to your Cloudflare account. Users who can read this file can use these credentials to issue arbitrary API calls on your behalf. 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 associated domains, even if those domains aren’t being managed by this server.
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
example.comcertbot certonly \
--dns-cloudflare \
--dns-cloudflare-credentials ~/.secrets/certbot/cloudflare.ini \
-d example.comexample.com and www.example.comcertbot certonly \
--dns-cloudflare \
--dns-cloudflare-credentials ~/.secrets/certbot/cloudflare.ini \
-d example.com \
-d www.example.comexample.com, waiting 60 seconds for DNS propagationcertbot certonly \
--dns-cloudflare \
--dns-cloudflare-credentials ~/.secrets/certbot/cloudflare.ini \
--dns-cloudflare-propagation-seconds 60 \
-d example.com