# Certificate location

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [November 6, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155 "2015-11-06T03:51:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![godfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@godfool](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/godfool)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155/1 "2015-11-06T03:51:41Z")

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When I created my certificate, it was put in /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com. When I renewed it, the new one was put in /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com-0001. Is that supposed to happen? What’s a good workflow to automate this process?

I use the standalone method and just create the cert without configuring the server, because Nginx, Postfix, and Dovecot already point to /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/cert.pem etc, so changing the directory name messes that up a bit.

I can script around it, but need to know how that’s intended to work first.

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![godfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@godfool](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/godfool)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155/3 "2015-11-06T04:24:43Z")

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Hm, not here. They are symlinked to /etc/letsencrypt/archive/example.com and /etc/letsencrypt/archive/example.com-0001 respectively. Am I missing something?

Edit: Could it be because the second run I added some more domains to the cert?

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**Author:** ![brokkr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/brokkr/32/2943_2.png) [@brokkr](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/brokkr)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155/4 "2015-12-07T20:19:54Z")

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I got the same result and I also had just changed some of the subdomains so I think that your guess is correct. I wonder if this means that I can have different certs for different subdomains?

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**Author:** ![pfg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/pfg/32/1924_2.png) [@pfg](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/pfg)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155/5 "2015-12-07T20:28:40Z")

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> [@brokkr](#):
>
> I wonder if this means that I can have different certs for different subdomains?

Yes, you can. Configure your web server with SNI and you can use any number of certificates on the same web server.

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**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/certificate-location/3155/6 "2015-12-07T20:39:35Z")

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Did the client prompt you to treat the new issuance with more domains as a renewal? If so, it’s _not_ the intended behavior that you would get a new `example.com-0001` directory. That’s considered a separate “certificate lineage” and is only intended for when you want a separate, unrelated certificate (which could still have some of the same domains mentioned in it).