Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. crt.sh | example.com), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help.
My domain is: edwardgns.com.au
I ran this command: on CertBot I selected: HTTP website is running "webhosting product" on Linux (pip)
It produced this output: wants WebRoot location
My web server is (include version):
The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): VM Standard E2.1 Micro
My hosting provider, if applicable, is: Oracle Free
I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know): don't know
I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): I'm using puTTY
The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you're using Certbot): cerbot 3.3.0 installed
Enter an IP address or domain name: Canonical-Ubuntu-24.04-25.01.31-1
Error: Unable to resolve domain to IP.
rip:T430 ~~>> chkports.sh
Enter an IP address or domain name: edwardgns.com.au
Scanning 27.124.120.1 (edwardgns.com.au) for open ports 22, 80, and 443...
Nmap results for 27.124.120.1 (edwardgns.com.au):
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-03-31 21:11 PDT
Nmap scan report for ip1b7c7801.ipv4.syd02.ds.network (27.124.120.1)
Host is up (0.16s latency).
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp open ssh
80/tcp open http
443/tcp open https
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 1.38 seconds
I think your server is: edwardgns.com.au
Am I correct?
Certificate:
Data:
Version: 3 (0x2)
Serial Number:
05:d3:a9:f6:10:d6:08:20:09:d5:e3:64:72:17:6e:ff:25:7c
Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
Issuer: C = US, O = Let's Encrypt, CN = R10
Validity
Not Before: Mar 25 09:42:53 2025 GMT
Not After : Jun 23 09:42:52 2025 GMT
Subject: CN = mail.edwardgns.com.au
Subject Public Key Info:
Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
Public-Key: (2048 bit)
Modulus:
00:e1:2b:4b:7b:97:9b:d8:2b:d8:ad:46:95:7d:81:
...
...
...
What gives here?
That bugs me a lot... We want to help but if you don't even know what your domain is .. we have a problem.
... <<And, it looks related to a hosting / parking service from crazydomains.
Does that mean anything to you?>>
My Domain Provider is CrazyDomains
My Web Server is Oracle Free which gave me the public IP address is 192.9.191.177
When you want a domain to be served by a particular server you have to point the domain A record to teh IP address of the server. Currently your domain edwardgns.com.au points to an australia IP (from DREAMSCAPE-INC-AU) so that's not oracle.
If you want to point it to your oracle server IP address you need to edit DNS records to point your domain at the oracle IP address.
The problem (finding your webroot) is unrelated to the DNS issue but domain validation was never going to work until your DNS was pointing at the right server.
Note that most people don't need to find their webroot because if they are using a standard nginx or apache webserver then they follow the certbot instructions for those and it just works.
I should add that if you are using your domain for other things (like your email) changing DNS records to point to other things could have an impact, so if you know what you're doing go ahead, but if not seek a local IT consultant if your domain hosts any production services you rely on.
Test stuff would often use a subdomain e.g. testing.edwardgns.com.au rather than your primary/apex domain, so you know you're not changing something important.
Sorry I don't mean to offend, doing projects like this as a hobby are a great idea to learn new skills. If it was for a business I would be recommending skilled help.
Your DNS is still pointing not for your Oracle IP. You have both an A and AAAA record to your domain registrar.
Also, you need to decide what web server to use. We cannot tell you what it is. There are many options.
We are not a general purpose help site for setting up servers. You should focus on getting one setup using HTTP that does not require a certificate. Then come back and ask for help if you still need it.
I appreciate it may be fun to do things to learn. But, perhaps a different hosting option would be better for you that allows you to focus on the content of a website rather than lots of technical detail. Then after you have learned more try again to be your own server admin.
Me: Where is my WebRoot?
reply "It is wherever you configured it to be. Even if you left it at a default location, that is something that you would need telll us"
Me: I set up an instance on Oricle free and this webserver configured the website. I can see the folders and files when I SSH but can't find WebRoot.
another reply: "focus on getting one setup using HTTP that does not require a certificate"
me: Oricle created my website "http://edwardgns.com.au/" which any of my browsers won't let me access because it is not https.
Your hostname is still "pointing" to different IP addresses, IPv4 (A record) as well as IPv6 (AAAA record). Please FIRST update your DNS to make sure it "points" to your Oracle IP address before continuing even THINKING about certificates.
That's not the way to find a webroot. A "webroot" is the path on a server that serves plain files such as .html files or e.g. .jpg files. Usually these files are served by a webserver application such as Apache or nginx. But there are others out there too.
Now, you're trying to set up "searXNG". I have no clue what "searXNG" is exactly, but it requires a webserver. Now, it might be that this "searXNG" application needs to run on an existing webserver or perhaps it includes a webserver. You need to find out the relationship between "searXNG" and the webserver it uses.
