My site domain is backinawhile.com hosted by HostForLife. It provides a Let’s Encrypt SSL option via the Plesk admin interface. I created a certificate initially for the site but once the cert expired I needed to renew via the admin UI, and received the following error:
Having investigated this it appears that there is a bug in Plesk where a bogus file from a failed previous attempt to order a renewed cert prevents subsequent renewal attempts but I’m not certain about this.
I have raised a hosting provider ticket but they say Let’s Encrypt is a 3rd party option (obviously) so not their problem and that there is no bug in Plesk as they have been using it for over a decade (which seemed a rather ridiculous response).
This is the very link I found and realised was the issue initially so I passed it to the hosting service.
They deny any responsibility saying they have been using Plesk for over a decade without a problem (which was a rather ridiculous response I thought).
It is getting rather frustrating but I have followed up by sending the link again indicating that LetsEncrypt is aware of it and that the resolution exists on the Plesk support site itself, although I suspect it will still promote another hollow response.
Alas, the hosting company refuses to take action citing that other users who have experienced this issue “eventually” had success after continued attempts. They also maintain that their Plesk installation is default (“Next,”, “Next”… etc. to quote them) and relies on auto-update only. They are trying to get me to use an in-house paid solution that I really don’t need.
Does this problem eventually “self heal”? And is there any other way I can get it to work giving the poor service quality of HostForLife?
Yes, thanks, I understand that. However, I don’t have access to that part of the file system, which is why I was hoping for a possible alternative but if not, so be it.