Let's Encrypt Certificate Management with TigerTrust
TigerTrust provides enterprise-grade integration with Let's Encrypt, enabling automated, free SSL certificate management for organizations of any size.
Why Let's Encrypt?
Let's Encrypt revolutionized SSL certificates:
- Free: No cost for SSL certificates
- Automated: ACME protocol enables full automation
- Trusted: Certificates trusted by all major browsers
- Short-Lived: 90-day validity improves security
- Open: Open source and community-driven
ACME Protocol Integration
TigerTrust implements the full ACME v2 protocol with support for:
- Production and staging environments
- Auto-renewal before expiration (recommended 30 days)
- DNS-01 and HTTP-01 challenge types
- Multiple DNS providers (Cloudflare, Route53, Azure DNS, etc.)
Challenge Types
DNS-01 Challenge (Recommended):
- Works for all domain types
- Required for wildcard certificates
- Automatic DNS record management
- Supported providers: Route53, Cloudflare, Azure DNS, Google Cloud DNS
HTTP-01 Challenge:
- Simple file-based validation
- TigerTrust agent handles automatically
- Good for single-server deployments
- Does not support wildcards
Rate Limits
Let's Encrypt has rate limits that TigerTrust manages:
| Limit Type | Value |
|---|---|
| Certificates per Domain | 50 per week |
| Duplicate Certificates | 5 per week |
| Failed Validations | 5 per hour |
| Orders per Account | 300 per 3 hours |
| Pending Authorizations | 300 per account |
TigerTrust Rate Limit Management:
- Tracks rate limit usage
- Queues requests to avoid limits
- Alerts when approaching limits
- Staging environment testing
Staging Environment
Test your configuration without hitting rate limits using the Let's Encrypt staging environment. Staging certificates are not trusted by browsers but allow unlimited testing.
Wildcard Certificates
Let's Encrypt supports wildcard certificates via DNS-01 challenge with automatic DNS record management.
Kubernetes Integration
TigerTrust works alongside cert-manager for Kubernetes deployments with Let's Encrypt ClusterIssuer configurations.
Best Practices
Do:
- Use staging environment for testing
- Implement DNS-01 for flexibility
- Renew certificates early (30 days)
- Monitor rate limit usage
Don't:
- Create certificates for testing in production
- Rely on HTTP-01 for wildcards
- Wait until expiration to renew
- Ignore failed renewal alerts
Getting Started
- Configure DNS Provider: Set up API access for your DNS provider
- Create ACME Account: TigerTrust registers with Let's Encrypt
- Test in Staging: Validate configuration without rate limits
- Switch to Production: Enable production certificates
- Monitor & Maintain: Track renewals and usage
TigerTrust's Let's Encrypt integration provides free, automated SSL certificates with enterprise-grade management and monitoring.