Need to request cert manually? Ed-Fi nginx Docker Install

[mmzorola]

Help! I am installing an Ed-Fi Sandbox on my local ubuntu (intranet) server using docker. I am not a docker pro but I can google. My issue is that my EdFi docker installation has the nginx container such that I cannot shell into it. When I compose my containers I do have a reference to a directory where my SSL files are stored. My plan was to acquire an ssl cert and load it into the directory and compose my container. I currently have an self signed cert in use but my api calls need a real cert--so my need for something better.
I think if I could either 1) request a cert manually and install it manually or 2) somehow get certbot to run in my nginx container (which I can't bash into). Any help/ideas are appreciated!

My domain is: zorola.com

I ran this command: n/a

It produced this output: n/a

My web server is (include version): nginx

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): ubuntu 22.04

My hosting provider, if applicable, is: n/a (intranet webserver)

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

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): n/a

[MikeMcQ]

You can run Certbot (or another ACME Client) on your host to create the cert there. There is a manual method but using a different method that you can automate is better.

For example, create a volume shared by your host and nginx container. Use the Certbot --webroot method and set the --webroot-path to that volume. That way Certbot can place the ACME Challenge token there and your nginx can send that token back to the Let's Encrypt server when it asks for it. Your nginx should use that volume folder as the root folder for incoming HTTP Challenge requests. They are of the form

location /.well-known/acme-challenge {
  root /your/shared/volume/with/host;
}
location / {
  root /folder/for/all/other/requests;
}