In this tutorial, we will set up a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate on a CentOS 7 server with Nginx as the web server. After completing the instructions described in this article, you should be able to access your site using HTTPS.
Using SSL (short for Secure Socket Layer) is vital to keeping your site’s visitors safe as well as improving your webpage’s ranking on search engines. Without SSL, the data and information sent between your web server and your site’s visitors can be seen by third parties that are transmitting that data. With SSL, this data is encrypted, and only you and your visitors can see the information, keeping both sides safer.
Let’s Encrypt lets you set up an SSL certificate on your server for free. Their goal was to make SSL a commodity and give everyone the ability to have a safe and secure website. Let’s Encrypt makes the process of installing/renewing certificates easy for most users. This is very useful for making your website secure without needing the technical knowledge that is usually expected. Google and other search engines further encourage securing your website by giving websites that use SSL a higher ranking than websites without SSL.
In this guide, we will use the Certbot tool from EFF (https://certbot.eff.org).
