Error getting validation data

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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. https://crt.sh/?q=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: knowhowla.ddns.net

I ran this command:
certbot certonly --agree-tos --email info@knowhow-la.de --webroot -w /var/lib/letsencrypt/ -d knowhowla.ddns.net

It produced this output:
Certbot failed to authenticate some domains (authenticator: webroot). The Certificate Authority reported these problems:
Domain: knowhowla.ddns.net
Type: connection
Detail: 91.67.60.24: Fetching http://knowhowla.ddns.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/N_kiRahENgL4Eh0Wbe4Gtrgos57rO6OJdFJS1Qow3Rw: Error getting validation data

Hint: The Certificate Authority failed to download the temporary challenge files created by Certbot. Ensure that the listed domains serve their content from the provided --webroot-path/-w and that files created there can be downloaded from the internet.

My web server is (include version): apache2 2.4.57

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): debian 12.1 Bookworm

My hosting provider, if applicable, is:

I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know): yes

I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): cockpit

The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you're using Certbot): certbot 2.1.0

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I can't even connect to your domain name. Usually the Let's Encrypt error message is slightly different in that case but Let's Debug site can't connect either.

Once you get Let's Debug to work try getting a cert again. Something seems wrong with your DNS or server / network config

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That's probably not your webroot.

Is there a reason you're not using --apache instead?

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Hello Mike,
thank you very much for your fast answer.

As I'm quite new to letsencrypt I can't figure out what that means?

I'm sorry I'm quite desperate as I'm trying for two weeks now. Maybe it's of importance that I'm using a FritzBox which I configured to use a DynDns

Helmut

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Your method for getting a cert requires an HTTP request to your domain. That request is failing. You can also reproduce with any web browser on a machine outside your local network. Use a mobile phone with wifi off to use the carrier's network - for example. And, try to access http://knowhowla.ddns.net It will fail.

You need to get that working. Make sure your ISP allows incoming requests on port 80 (and port 443). And, make sure all firewalls are open and your comms config is correct (like a router's NAT forwarding).

None of that is unique to Let's Encrypt. It is just standard comms and server config.

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