Remove Domain from certificate - certbot

Hi there @austinCoral,

What you need to do is to issue a new certificate for the domain names that should be part of the certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

Hope that this helps! Regards, Bobby

I went to this folder: cd /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/

Then used sudo rm to remove the conf files of the old domains.

Seems to have worked, will see in 12 hours. :D

To remove specific domains from a Let’s Encrypt certificate managed by Certbot, you essentially have two options: either create a new certificate that includes only the domains you want, or attempt to modify the existing certificate. However, Certbot doesn’t directly support removing individual domains from an existing certificate; it’s generally simpler to issue a new certificate with the desired domains. Here’s how you can do it:

Option 1: Create a New Certificate

1. Issue a New Certificate

   Run Certbot for your remaining domains, and it will create a new certificate:

sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d etffstaging.net -d bern.etffstaging.net

Replace --nginx with your web server plugin if you’re not using Nginx (e.g., --apache).

2. Update Nginx Configuration

   After obtaining the new certificate, update your Nginx configuration to use the new certificate files.

3. Reload Nginx

   After updating the Nginx configuration:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

4. Optional: Delete the Old Certificate

Once you’re sure the new certificate is working correctly, you can delete the old certificate. List all certificates:

sudo certbot certificates

Then delete the specific certificate:

sudo certbot delete --cert-name old-certificate-name

Replace old-certificate-name with the name of the certificate you want to delete.

Option 2: Attempt to Modify the Existing Certificate

While Certbot doesn’t directly support removing a domain from an existing certificate, you can try to “renew” the certificate with only the domains you want to keep:

sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d etffstaging.net -d bern.etffstaging.net --force-renewal

This approach forces a renewal of the certificate for only the specified domains. It’s essentially similar to creating a new certificate but tries to overwrite the existing one.

Important Notes

• Ensure that your DNS records for etffstaging.net and bern.etffstaging.net are correctly pointing to your server.

• Always test your web server configuration for syntax errors after making changes.

• Consider backing up existing SSL certificates before making changes, just in case you need to revert.

• Be aware of the rate limits imposed by Let’s Encrypt. Excessive certificate requests can lead to temporary blocks.