# Cerbot uses wrong subdomain when doing dns query **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [June 17, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037 "2021-06-17T12:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phiwatec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@Phiwatec](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Phiwatec)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/1 "2021-06-17T12:29:51Z")
Im running a debian server using nginx as my webserver. Cerbot works perfrect in manual mode. However when I try certbot --nginx renew it seems to trip up on certain subdomains. My domains are: [owncloud.xxxx.de](http://owncloud.xxxx.de) and [cloud.xxxx.de](http://cloud.xxxx.de) (Where xxxx my peronal name domain) I ran this command: certbot --nginx renew It produced this output: ```nohighlight - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/cloud.xxxx.de.conf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cert is due for renewal, auto-renewing... Plugins selected: Authenticator nginx, Installer nginx Renewing an existing certificate Performing the following challenges: http-01 challenge for owncloud.xxxx.de Waiting for verification... Cleaning up challenges Attempting to renew cert (cloud.xxxx.de) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/cloud.xxxx.de.conf produced an unexpected error: Failed authorization procedure. owncloud.xxxx.de (http-01): urn:ietf:params:acme:error:dns :: No valid IP addresses found for owncloud.xxxx.de. Skipping. ``` My web server is (include version): nginx/1.14.2 The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): ```nohighlight PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)" NAME="Debian GNU/Linux" VERSION_ID="10" VERSION="10 (buster)" VERSION_CODENAME=buster ID=debian HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/" SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/" 2018100200 ``` The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you're using Certbot): 0.31.0 It seems like it's trying to renew the [cloud.xxxx.de](http://cloud.xxxx.de) cert (which is correct) but when making the actual dns query uses the wrong ([owncloud.xxxx.de](http://owncloud.xxxx.de) deprecated) domain and correctly doesn't find a domain entry for it. I suspect some part of the validation process using a regex that first matches the [owncloud.xxxx.de](http://owncloud.xxxx.de) (first in the alphabet) and uses it. For me the fix is easy (Just removed my old owncloud config file) but for others that actually use subdomains that contain others this might be a problem. I tried to find the part in the source code that could cause this behavior but wasn't successful. Greetings ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/2 "2021-06-17T16:53:47Z")
> [@Phiwatec](#): > > I suspect some part of the validation process using a regex that first matches the [owncloud.xxxx.de](http://owncloud.xxxx.de) (first in the alphabet) and uses it. I'm not sure what you mean by this? What kind of regex? What kind of first match? This could be due to erroneous symbolic linking in the `/etc/letsencrypt/` directory tree. Best is to start with the renewal configuration file: could you paste the contents of `/etc/letsencrypt/renewal/cloud.xxxx.de.conf`? ---
**Author:** ![rg305](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/rg305/32/91314_2.png) [@rg305](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/rg305)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/3 "2021-06-17T19:16:44Z")
> [@Phiwatec](#): > > However when I try **certbot --nginx renew** it seems to trip up on certain subdomains. Please try (just): `certbot renew` ---
**Author:** ![Phiwatec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@Phiwatec](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Phiwatec)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 10:00am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/4 "2021-06-18T10:00:39Z")
Contents of cloud.xxxx.de.conf config file: ```nohighlight # renew_before_expiry = 30 days version = 0.31.0 archive_dir = /etc/letsencrypt/archive/cloud.xxxx.de cert = /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.xxxx.de/cert.pem privkey = /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.xxxx.de/privkey.pem chain = /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.xxxx.de/chain.pem fullchain = /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.xxxx.de/fullchain.pem # Options used in the renewal process [renewalparams] server = https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory authenticator = nginx installer = nginx account = ``` I couldn't find any symbolic links in the letsencrypt directory. Greetings ---
**Author:** ![Phiwatec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@Phiwatec](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Phiwatec)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 10:01am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/5 "2021-06-18T10:01:54Z")
It comes up with the exact same error. Greetings ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 10:36am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/6 "2021-06-18T10:36:22Z")
> [@Phiwatec](#): > > Contents of cloud.xxxx.de.conf config file: What's the output of: `sudo ls -l /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.xxxx.de/` ? ---
**Author:** ![Phiwatec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@Phiwatec](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Phiwatec)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/7 "2021-06-21T19:24:54Z")
I don't exactly know where the problem was but i just removed and reinstalled nginx and certbot and now it works. Got rid of some old config files too. Thanks for the support anyways. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/cerbot-uses-wrong-subdomain-when-doing-dns-query/154037/8 "2021-07-21T19:25:28Z")
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