# Renewing expired certificate fails

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/renewing-expired-certificate-fails/93237>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [May 10, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/renewing-expired-certificate-fails/93237 "2019-05-10T03:30:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![siramthar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@siramthar](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/siramthar)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/renewing-expired-certificate-fails/93237/1 "2019-05-10T03:30:29Z")

</div>

Hello,  
I have not been able to renew the certificate of this server:

My domain is: mail.stage-gate.la

I ran this command: sudo certbot --apache --agree-tos --redirect --hsts --email [german.garcia@stage-gate.com](mailto:german.garcia@stage-gate.com) --renew-by-default -d mail.stage-gate.la

It produced this output:  
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log  
Plugins selected: Authenticator apache, Installer apache  
Renewing an existing certificate  
Performing the following challenges:  
http-01 challenge for mail.stage-gate.la  
Waiting for verification…  
Cleaning up challenges  
Failed authorization procedure. mail.stage-gate.la (http-01): urn:ietf:params:acme:error:unauthorized :: The client lacks sufficient authorization :: Invalid response from [http://mail.stage-gate.la/.well-known/acme-challenge/fz0hlMLuWOzrU8a8Os\_-vXj2d8kfiNS7Og1Vvsk2OS0](http://mail.stage-gate.la/.well-known/acme-challenge/fz0hlMLuWOzrU8a8Os_-vXj2d8kfiNS7Og1Vvsk2OS0) [18.207.54.221]: “\n\n404 Not Found\n\n

# Not Found
\n\<p”

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- The following errors were reported by the server:  
Domain: mail.stage-gate.la  
Type: unauthorized  
Detail: Invalid response from  
[http://mail.stage-gate.la/.well-known/acme-challenge/fz0hlMLuWOzrU8a8Os\_-vXj2d8kfiNS7Og1Vvsk2OS0](http://mail.stage-gate.la/.well-known/acme-challenge/fz0hlMLuWOzrU8a8Os_-vXj2d8kfiNS7Og1Vvsk2OS0)  
[18.207.54.221]: “\n\n404 Not Found\n\n

My web server is (include version): apache

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): ubuntu 16.04

The version of my client is Certbot 0.31.0

* * *

I added a test.html at the server to see if it was been able to get accessed through a browser and if apache was blocking it or not.:  
[http://mail.stage-gate.la/.well-known/acme-challenge/test.html](http://mail.stage-gate.la/.well-known/acme-challenge/test.html)  
It opens fine.

What can I do? I’m lost.

Thanks in advance!

- German

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![siramthar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@siramthar](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/siramthar)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:52am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/renewing-expired-certificate-fails/93237/2 "2019-05-10T03:52:38Z")

</div>

Hello,  
I removed the redirect from apache at /etc/apache2/sites-available/mail.stage-gate.la.conf :

RewriteEngine on  
RewriteCond %{SERVER\_NAME} =mail.stage-gate.la  
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER\_NAME}%{REQUEST\_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]

–  
Also at /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf:  
I commented the line

# enableSSL on

* * *

Then I ran  
sudo certbot run -a webroot -i apache -w /var/www/mail.stage-gate.la -d mail.stage-gate.la

Output:  
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log  
Plugins selected: Authenticator webroot, Installer apache  
Cert is due for renewal, auto-renewing…  
Renewing an existing certificate  
Performing the following challenges:  
http-01 challenge for mail.stage-gate.la  
Using the webroot path /var/www/mail.stage-gate.la for all unmatched domains.  
Waiting for verification…  
Cleaning up challenges  
Created an SSL vhost at /etc/apache2/sites-available/mail.stage-gate.la-le-ssl.conf  
Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/apache2/sites-available/mail.stage-gate.la-le-ss  
l.conf

Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access.

* * *

1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration.  
2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for  
new sites, or if you’re confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this  
change by editing your web server’s configuration.

* * *

Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press ‘c’ to cancel): 2  
Redirecting vhost in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/mail.stage-gate.la.conf to ssl vhost in /e  
tc/apache2/sites-available/mail.stage-gate.la-le-ssl.conf

* * *

Your existing certificate has been successfully renewed, and the new certificate  
has been installed.

The new certificate covers the following domains: [https://mail.stage-gate.la](https://mail.stage-gate.la)

You should test your configuration at:  
[https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=mail.stage-gate.la](https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=mail.stage-gate.la)

* * *

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at:  
/etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.stage-gate.la/fullchain.pem  
Your key file has been saved at:  
/etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.stage-gate.la/privkey.pem  
Your cert will expire on 2019-08-08. To obtain a new or tweaked  
version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again  
with the “certonly” option. To non-interactively renew _all_ of  
your certificates, run “certbot renew”
- If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by:  
Donating to ISRG / Let’s Encrypt: [https://letsencrypt.org/donate](https://letsencrypt.org/donate)  
Donating to EFF: [https://eff.org/donate-le](https://eff.org/donate-le)

ubuntu@mail:~$

* * *

I think I solved it.

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JuergenAuer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/juergenauer/32/26491_2.png) [@JuergenAuer](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/JuergenAuer)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 7:47am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/renewing-expired-certificate-fails/93237/3 "2019-05-10T07:47:10Z")

</div>

Hi @siramthar

happy to read that it had worked.

I see, there are three checks of your domain ( [https://check-your-website.server-daten.de/?q=mail.stage-gate.la](https://check-your-website.server-daten.de/?q=mail.stage-gate.la) ):

You have removed the redirect http -\> https.

> [@siramthar](#):
>
> I removed the redirect from apache at /etc/apache2/sites-available/mail.stage-gate.la.conf :
> 
> RewriteEngine on  
> RewriteCond %{SERVER\_NAME} =mail.stage-gate.la  
> RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER\_NAME}%{REQUEST\_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent]

But your first and second check doesn't show such a redirect. So this redirect rule or the complete vHost isn't used.

> [@siramthar](#):
>
> Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press ‘c’ to cancel): 2  
> Redirecting vhost in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/mail.stage-gate.la.conf to ssl vhost in /e  
> tc/apache2/sites-available/mail.stage-gate.la-le-ssl.conf

Rechecked your domain now - there is no redirect.

Looks like you have different vHosts with the same port and the same ServerName / ServerAlias.

Every combination von port and ServerName should be unique.

What says

```nohighlight
apachectl -S

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 7:47am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/renewing-expired-certificate-fails/93237/4 "2019-06-09T07:47:14Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.