Moving certs from one Linux server to another

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My domain is:

I ran this command:
sudo certbot -apache2

It produced this output:
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
The requested pache2 plugin does not appear to be installed
--> NOTE! The misspelling of "apache" in the output is not a typo - this may be a bug?

My web server is (include version):
Apache/2.4.52 (Ubuntu)

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):
Linux Lite 6 (I am moving from Linux Mint 21 which is my currently live server)

My hosting provider, if applicable, is:
Home server (Comcast)

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):
no

The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you're using Certbot):
1.21.0

Hello,
I'm working on migrating to new hardware and OS (Both are Ubuntu 22.04 based though) and was wondering what the preferred method of doing this was. Would it be best to cancel all of the certs on the old machine and then have LetsEncrypt/certbot regenerate them on the new machine once I get it online?
I have manually moved the certs over and recreated the syslinks and things do appear to be working for the most part but I have seen a few errors that concern me and I'm not sure if the certs will regenerate when they expire as they have done once on the old machine since I first installed LetsEncrypt back around 4 months ago.
When I run the 'sudo certbot -apache2' command I'm seeing this output: 'Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log The requested pache2 plugin does not appear to be installed' which seems odd to me. Please note the mispelling of 'apache2' as 'pache2' is not a typo.
I'll post the actual .log file here too.

letsencrypt.log.txt (1.4 KB)

Please keep in mind that the new server is not actually online yet. I have tested the virtual hosting with the migrated certs by modifying the 'hosts' file on a client PC for testing and the SSL certs do appear to be working Ok overall.

Thanks for any advice / assistance!

Welcome to the community @sqwuade

First, the certbot command for Apache plug in is: certbot --apache
There is no apache2 plug-in and two leading dashes are used

As for moving to new server your process sounds fine. You will not be able to run certbot (or any ACME client) using your new server until the DNS points to the IP of that new server. (or, for a home setup, change your NAT forwarding to your new server)

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Is read as:
sudo certbot -a pache2
Which is why the error message shows:

6 Likes

Ok, I'll give that a try rg305. I think I saw that command online somewhere, that's why I tried it. I'll give it a try with two dashes and w/o the "2" at the end. Thanks.

1 Like

Ok, I'll give that a try MikeMcQ. I think I saw that command online somewhere, that's why I tried it. I'll give it a try with two dashes and w/o the "2" at the end. Thanks.

1 Like

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