Connecting a custom domain to the application

After the installation, the application from the Marketplace is available at the server address over HTTPS with a self-signed SSL certificate. It works, but the browser shows a security warning on the first visit. To use the application at your own address and without the warning, connect a domain and issue a free Let's Encrypt certificate with the setup-ssl script.

Connecting a domain is not available for every application. It is easy to tell: if the Admin URL field shows an address like https://VPS-IP or https://VPS-IP:PORT, the application runs behind a reverse proxy (usually Nginx) that serves the self-signed certificate and allows issuing a Let's Encrypt certificate. The setup-ssl script is included in the installation, a hint about it is shown in the server login banner and in /root/credentials.txt:

To set up a custom domain with a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate for Zabbix, run: setup-ssl Please note: You may use either your custom domain or the FQDN of your VPS - vps30536.introserv.cloud

If you do not have a domain

You do not need to register a domain to get rid of the browser warning. Every VPS has its own FQDN (a name like vps30536.introserv.cloud) that already points to your server. Run setup-ssl and enter this FQDN as the domain name, the certificate will be issued for it.

The FQDN of your server is shown in the welcome message (MOTD) when you connect to the server via SSH. You can also check it with the following command:

hostname --fqdn

Step 1. Point the domain to the server

If you use your own domain, first create an A record for it at your DNS provider or registrar. The record must point to the IP address of your server, it is shown on the Details page in your client area.

Info

Important: The domain must already resolve to the server before you run the script, setup-ssl verifies this first and stops if the domain points elsewhere. After creating the A record, allow time for DNS changes to propagate.

Step 2. Run setup-ssl

Connect to the server over SSH as root and run setup-ssl. The script asks for the domain name and an email address for Let's Encrypt notifications:

root@vps30536:~# setup-ssl
Enter your domain name (must already point to this server): vps30536.introserv.cloud
Enter your email address (for Let's Encrypt notifications):

The script performs all further steps automatically: verifies that the domain resolves to the server IP, validates the web server configuration, issues a free Let's Encrypt certificate valid for about three months, configures automatic renewal and applies the certificate to the web server:

Checking DNS for vps30536.introserv.cloud... DNS OK: vps30536.introserv.cloud -> 38.44.98.88 Requesting a certificate for vps30536.introserv.cloud Successfully received certificate. Certbot has set up a scheduled task to automatically renew this certificate in the background. Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS on https://vps30536.introserv.cloud

Tip

The script also updates the URL line in /root/credentials.txt, so the file always shows the current address of the application.