How can I use LetsEncrypt easily to encrypt all my websites on windows?

Question

I have an server on Azure running a PHP application. It runs the XAMPP app and it all works great. However I have been trying to get all my sites served over https.

I have tried lots of things and hit problems at every turn, and then when I do get it running, my self signed certs cause problems with browsers.

My shared hosting account (Dreamhost) allows me to use LetsEncrypt to encrypt all my shared sites.

Is there an easy way to set all this up on a windows box?

Answer 1

It turns out that by installing Caddy HTTP Server and using it as a proxy you can get super simple https on my sites.

1. Install Caddy Server on your machine.
2. Change Apache to serve over a different port to :80 (anything you want :4455 :255666)
3. Ensure Apache is not trying to server 443
4. Ensure you have a route through your firewall for 443
5. Write your caddy config file to proxy all requests.

myexample.site.com {

   proxy / myexample.site.com:4455
}

6. Run Caddy

This will automatically create and install a letEncrypt https cert and then force all trafic over https and route all requests to apache on port :4455

Result - a super simple way to serve your sites over https on windows with lets encrypt.