Certbot auto renewal

asbern · January 29, 2019, 10:10am

Hi all,

I am facing issue with certbot auto renewal, its failing when it automatically tries to renew, but manually i could renew using " certbot renew" and dry run “certbot renew --dry-run” also working fine,

nginx version 1.14.2

FYI, Below is the error when it tries to auto renew

Subject: XXX> python -c ‘import random; import time; time.sleep(random.random() * 3600)’ && certbot renew
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
Precedence: bulk
X-Cron-Env: <XDG_SESSION_ID=404>
X-Cron-Env: <XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/0>
X-Cron-Env: <LANG=en_US.UTF-8>
X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/sh>
X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/root>
X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/usr/bin:/bin>
X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=root>
X-Cron-Env: <USER=root>
Message-Id:
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:18:50 +0800 (+08)

Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log

Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/XXXX.conf

Cert is due for renewal, auto-renewing…
Could not choose appropriate plugin: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError()
Attempting to renew cert XXX.Y.com) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/XXX.Y.com.conf produced an unexpected error: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError(). Skipping.
All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed:
/etc/letsencrypt/live/XXX.Y.com/fullchain.pem (failure)

All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed:
/etc/letsencrypt/live/XXX.Y.com/fullchain.pem (failure)

1 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s)

rg305 · January 29, 2019, 5:29pm

Check your nginx config with:
nginx -t

mnordhoff · January 29, 2019, 7:35pm

Does it provide the rest of the error message?

Or does /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log?

This probably means that the nginx executable isn't in the PATH, or -- less likely -- that Certbot can't find nginx.conf.

Check where nginx is -- e.g. with which nginx -- and make sure it's within the PATH used by cron.

asbern · January 30, 2019, 4:44am

Below is the output when i use nginx -t command

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

asbern · January 30, 2019, 4:57am

The error message from letsencrypt.log

2019-01-18 00:18:49,930:DEBUG:certbot.main:certbot version: 0.26.1
2019-01-18 00:18:49,930:DEBUG:certbot.main:Arguments:
2019-01-18 00:18:49,930:DEBUG:certbot.main:Discovered plugins: PluginsRegistry(PluginEntryPoint#manual,PluginEntryPoint#nginx,PluginEntryPoint#null,PluginEntryPoint#standalone,PluginEntryPoint#webroot)
2019-01-18 00:18:49,970:DEBUG:certbot.log:Root logging level set at 20
2019-01-18 00:18:49,971:INFO:certbot.log:Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
2019-01-18 00:18:50,015:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:Requested authenticator <certbot.cli._Default object at 0x7fa9ae03d650> and installer <certbot.cli._Default object at 0x7fa9ae03d650>
2019-01-18 00:18:50,036:DEBUG:certbot.storage:Should renew, less than 30 days before certificate expiry 2019-02-07 09:24:09 UTC.
2019-01-18 00:18:50,036:INFO:certbot.renewal:Cert is due for renewal, auto-renewing…
2019-01-18 00:18:50,037:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:Requested authenticator nginx and installer nginx
2019-01-18 00:18:50,038:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.disco:No installation (PluginEntryPoint#nginx):
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/plugins/disco.py”, line 132, in prepare
self._initialized.prepare()
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot_nginx/configurator.py”, line 139, in prepare
raise errors.NoInstallationError
NoInstallationError
2019-01-18 00:18:50,051:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:No candidate plugin
2019-01-18 00:18:50,052:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:No candidate plugin
2019-01-18 00:18:50,052:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:Selected authenticator None and installer None
2019-01-18 00:18:50,052:INFO:certbot.main:Could not choose appropriate plugin: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError()
2019-01-18 00:18:50,052:WARNING:certbot.renewal:Attempting to renew cert (www.example.com) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/www.example.com.conf produced an unexpected error: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError(). Skipping.
2019-01-18 00:18:50,055:DEBUG:certbot.renewal:Traceback was:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/renewal.py”, line 430, in handle_renewal_request
main.renew_cert(lineage_config, plugins, renewal_candidate)
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/main.py”, line 1191, in renew_cert
installer, auth = plug_sel.choose_configurator_plugins(config, plugins, “certonly”)
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/plugins/selection.py”, line 237, in choose_configurator_plugins
diagnose_configurator_problem(“authenticator”, req_auth, plugins)
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/plugins/selection.py”, line 341, in diagnose_configurator_problem
raise errors.PluginSelectionError(msg)
PluginSelectionError: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError()

2019-01-18 00:18:50,055:ERROR:certbot.renewal:All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed:
2019-01-18 00:18:50,055:ERROR:certbot.renewal: /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem (failure)
2019-01-18 00:18:50,055:DEBUG:certbot.log:Exiting abnormally:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/certbot”, line 9, in
load_entry_point(‘certbot==0.26.1’, ‘console_scripts’, ‘certbot’)()
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/main.py”, line 1364, in main
return config.func(config, plugins)
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/main.py”, line 1276, in renew
renewal.handle_renewal_request(config)
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/certbot/renewal.py”, line 455, in handle_renewal_request
len(renew_failures), len(parse_failures)))
Error: 1 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s)

mnordhoff · January 30, 2019, 5:04am

Ah! That's what I said it probably was:

A newer version of Certbot added a more clear error message.

github.com

certbot/certbot/blob/v0.30.2/certbot-nginx/certbot_nginx/configurator.py#L142-L146


      
          # Verify Nginx is installed
          if not util.exe_exists(self.conf('ctl')):
              raise errors.NoInstallationError(
                  "Could not find a usable 'nginx' binary. Ensure nginx exists, "
                  "the binary is executable, and your PATH is set correctly.")

asbern · January 30, 2019, 5:22am

How to change nginx path? any idea on that?

rg305 · January 30, 2019, 5:26am

Show:
set | grep -i 'path='
which nginx

asbern · January 30, 2019, 5:28am

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin

rg305 · January 30, 2019, 5:32am

The PATH looks OK.

Please show all of these:

which nginx
crontab -l
sudo crontab -l
systemctl list-timers --all | grep certbot

asbern · January 30, 2019, 5:37am

which nginx

/usr/sbin/nginx

crontab -l

0 0,12 * * * python -c ‘import random; import time; time.sleep(random.random() * 3600)’ && certbot renew

systemctl list-timers --all | grep certbot

No output was shown for this

rg305 · January 30, 2019, 5:43am

NGINX is in the PATH (for root user).

Try [one of these should work]:
certbot renew --dry-run --nginx-ctl /usr/sbin/nginx
or
certbot renew --dry-run --nginx-ctl /usr/sbin

OR it will give us more clues...

mnordhoff · January 30, 2019, 5:45am

Cron could be operating with a different PATH.

I can’t say what your cron daemon’s default PATH is or what the best way to change it is, though.

rg305 · January 30, 2019, 5:54am

Yeah - very possible.
Not even sure how to get that "value" out...

asbern · January 30, 2019, 6:21am

certbot renew --dry-run --nginx-ctl /usr/sbin

Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log

Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/www.example.com.conf

Cert not due for renewal, but simulating renewal for dry run
Could not choose appropriate plugin: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError(“Could not find a usable ‘nginx’ binary. Ensure nginx exists, the binary is executable, and your PATH is set correctly.”,)
Attempting to renew cert (www.example.com) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/www.example.com.conf produced an unexpected error: The nginx plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration.
The error was: NoInstallationError(“Could not find a usable ‘nginx’ binary. Ensure nginx exists, the binary is executable, and your PATH is set correctly.”,). Skipping.
All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed:
/etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem (failure)

** DRY RUN: simulating ‘certbot renew’ close to cert expiry
** (The test certificates below have not been saved.)

All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed:
/etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem (failure)
** DRY RUN: simulating ‘certbot renew’ close to cert expiry
** (The test certificates above have not been saved.)

1 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s)

#certbot renew --dry-run --nginx-ctl /usr/sbin/nginx
was working fine, certificate renewed successfully

system · March 1, 2019, 6:21am

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

Topic		Replies	Views
Automated renewal of cert fails Help	11	6778	March 23, 2017
Failed to autorenew from cron - Could not find a usable 'nginx' binary Help	3	5792	October 24, 2019
Unable to renew a Certbot NGINX certificate Help	2	651	June 10, 2022
Ubuntu 18.04 - certbot-auto renew fails Help	3	2000	October 31, 2019
Unable to Renew via Cron Help	6	1989	April 26, 2018

Certbot auto renewal

which nginx

crontab -l

systemctl list-timers --all | grep certbot

certbot renew --dry-run --nginx-ctl /usr/sbin

Related topics