Replacing NSX-T Controller SSL Certificates with Lets Encrypt

Another certificate management post as Lets Encrypt have removed their old root certificates. This post shows how to update signed certificates for NSX-T.

NSX-T checks certificate chains when importing certificates, and unless the full chain of trust is available, you will not be able to use the certificate with NSX-T.

Another certificate management post as Lets Encrypt have removed their old root certificates. This post shows how to update signed certificates for NSX-T.

NSX-T checks certificate chains when importing certificates, and unless the full chain of trust is available, you will not be able to use the certificate with NSX-T.

This link here shows the chain of trust for Lets Encrypt certificates.

https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/

The certificate chain for Lets Encrypt is as follows:

your-certificate -> R3 -> ISRG Root X1

Your certificate is delivered to you after you request a certificate using Lets Encrypt services, the file that contains your certificate is named cert.pem.

The R3 certificate can be downloaded with this link

https://letsencrypt.org/certs/lets-encrypt-r3.pem

The ISRG Root X1 certificate can be downloaded with this link

https://letsencrypt.org/certs/isrgrootx1.pem

To create a complete chain that NSX-T can accept, combine the contents of the files above into a single file in this order: cert, R3, X1. Like this

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
cert.pem content
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
R3.pem content
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
X1.pem content
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Now you can use this new file to import and use this new certificate in NSX-T. It will look similar to this if successful.

Author: Hugo Phan

@hugophan

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