# Authenticate without website

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/authenticate-without-website/121940>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [May 6, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/authenticate-without-website/121940 "2020-05-06T18:53:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![OsoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecae2f/32.png) [@OsoRojo](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/OsoRojo)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/authenticate-without-website/121940/1 "2020-05-06T18:53:25Z")

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Is there a way to authenticate without having a website? I need certificates for email servers and I don’t have any pull with the website folks to get their ISP to make the changes.

Is there some other way using DNS or the like?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/authenticate-without-website/121940/2 "2020-05-06T18:55:23Z")

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> [@OsoRojo](#):
>
> Is there some other way using DNS or the like?

Yes, you can use the `dns-01` challenge. You can read more about the different challenge types here: [Challenge Types - Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/docs/challenge-types/)

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**Author:** ![JuergenAuer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/juergenauer/32/26491_2.png) [@JuergenAuer](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/JuergenAuer)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/authenticate-without-website/121940/3 "2020-05-06T18:57:12Z")

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Hi @OsoRojo

> [@OsoRojo](#):
>
> I need certificates for email servers and I don’t have any pull with the website folks to get their ISP to make the changes.

do you control `mail.example.com`?

If yes, create there a webserver. Or use Certbot with `--standalone`.

Or use dns validation. Then you don't need a running webserver and you don't need a public ip address.

But if you have a mail server, you have already a public ip address, so it's easy to add a temporary webserver (start - stop before after renew).

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/authenticate-without-website/121940/4 "2020-06-05T19:00:04Z")

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