community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_create module – Create an ACME v2 order

Note

This module is part of the community.crypto collection (version 2.24.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.crypto. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_create.

New in community.crypto 2.24.0

Synopsis 

Creates an ACME v2 order. This is the first step of obtaining a new certificate with the ACME protocol from a Certificate Authority such as Let’s Encrypt or Buypass. This module does not support ACME v1, the original version of the ACME protocol before standardization.
The current implementation supports the http-01, dns-01 and tls-alpn-01 challenges.
This module needs to be used in conjunction with the community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_validate and. community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_finalize module. An order can be effectively deactivated with the community.crypto.acme_certificate_deactivate_authz module. Note that both modules require the output order_uri of this module.
To create or modify ACME accounts, use the community.crypto.acme_account module. This module will not create or update ACME accounts.
Between the call of this module and community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_finalize, you have to fulfill the required steps for the chosen challenge by whatever means necessary. For http-01 that means creating the necessary challenge file on the destination webserver. For dns-01 the necessary dns record has to be created. For tls-alpn-01 the necessary certificate has to be created and served. It is not the responsibility of this module to perform these steps.
For details on how to fulfill these challenges, you might have to read through the main ACME specification and the TLS-ALPN-01 specification. Also, consider the examples provided for this module.
The module includes support for IP identifiers according to the RFC 8738 ACME extension.

Requirements 

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

either openssl or cryptography >= 1.5
ipaddress

Parameters 

Parameter	Comments
account_key_content string	Content of the ACME account RSA or Elliptic Curve key. Mutually exclusive with `account_key_src`. Required if `account_key_src` is not used. Warning: the content will be written into a temporary file, which will be deleted by Ansible when the module completes. Since this is an important private key — it can be used to change the account key, or to revoke your certificates without knowing their private keys —, this might not be acceptable. In case `cryptography` is used, the content is not written into a temporary file. It can still happen that it is written to disk by Ansible in the process of moving the module with its argument to the node where it is executed.
account_key_passphrase string added in community.crypto 1.6.0	Phassphrase to use to decode the account key. Note: this is not supported by the `openssl` backend, only by the `cryptography` backend.
account_key_src aliases: account_key path	Path to a file containing the ACME account RSA or Elliptic Curve key. Private keys can be created with the community.crypto.openssl_privatekey or community.crypto.openssl_privatekey_pipe modules. If the requisite (cryptography) is not available, keys can also be created directly with the `openssl` command line tool: RSA keys can be created with `openssl genrsa ...`. Elliptic curve keys can be created with `openssl ecparam -genkey ...`. Any other tool creating private keys in PEM format can be used as well. Mutually exclusive with `account_key_content`. Required if `account_key_content` is not used.
account_uri string	If specified, assumes that the account URI is as given. If the account key does not match this account, or an account with this URI does not exist, the module fails.
acme_directory string / required	The ACME directory to use. This is the entry point URL to access the ACME CA server API. For safety reasons the default is set to the Let’s Encrypt staging server (for the ACME v1 protocol). This will create technically correct, but untrusted certificates. For Let’s Encrypt, all staging endpoints can be found here: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/staging-environment/. For Buypass, all endpoints can be found here: https://community.buypass.com/t/63d4ay/buypass-go-ssl-endpoints. For Let’s Encrypt, the production directory URL for ACME v2 is https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory. For Buypass, the production directory URL for ACME v2 and v1 is https://api.buypass.com/acme/directory. For ZeroSSL, the production directory URL for ACME v2 is https://acme.zerossl.com/v2/DV90. For Sectigo, the production directory URL for ACME v2 is https://acme-qa.secure.trust-provider.com/v2/DV. The notes for this module contain a list of ACME services this module has been tested against.
acme_version integer / required	The ACME version of the endpoint. Must be `1` for the classic Let’s Encrypt and Buypass ACME endpoints, or `2` for standardized ACME v2 endpoints. The value `1` is deprecated since community.crypto 2.0.0 and will be removed from community.crypto 3.0.0. Choices: `1` `2`
csr path	File containing the CSR for the new certificate. Can be created with community.crypto.openssl_csr. The CSR may contain multiple Subject Alternate Names, but each one will lead to an individual challenge that must be fulfilled for the CSR to be signed. Note: the private key used to create the CSR must not be the account key. This is a bad idea from a security point of view, and the CA should not accept the CSR. The ACME server should return an error in this case. Precisely one of `csr` or `csr_content` must be specified.
csr_content string	Content of the CSR for the new certificate. Can be created with community.crypto.openssl_csr_pipe. The CSR may contain multiple Subject Alternate Names, but each one will lead to an individual challenge that must be fulfilled for the CSR to be signed. Note: the private key used to create the CSR must not be the account key. This is a bad idea from a security point of view, and the CA should not accept the CSR. The ACME server should return an error in this case. Precisely one of `csr` or `csr_content` must be specified.
deactivate_authzs boolean	Deactivate authentication objects (authz) when issuing the certificate failed. Authentication objects are bound to an account key and remain valid for a certain amount of time, and can be used to issue certificates without having to re-authenticate the domain. This can be a security concern. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)
order_creation_error_strategy string	Selects the error handling strategy for ACME protocol errors if creating a new ACME order fails. Choices: `"always"`: Always retry, until the limit in `order_creation_max_retries` has been reached. `"auto"` (default): An unspecified algorithm that tries to be clever. Right now identical to `retry_without_replaces_cert_id`. `"fail"`: Simply fail in case of errors. Do not attempt to retry. `"retry_without_replaces_cert_id"`: If `replaces_cert_id` is present, creating the order will be tried again without `replaces`. The only exception is an error of type `urn:ietf:params:acme:error:alreadyReplaced`, that indicates that the certificate was already replaced. This usually means something went wrong and the user should investigate.
order_creation_max_retries integer	Depending on the strategy selected in `order_creation_error_strategy`, will retry creating new orders for at most the specified amount of times. Default: `3`
profile string	Chose a specific profile for certificate selection. The available profiles depend on the CA. See a blog post by Let’s Encrypt and draft-aaron-acme-profiles-00 for more information.
replaces_cert_id string	If provided, will request the order to replace the certificate identified by this certificate ID according to the ACME ARI draft 3. This certificate ID must be computed as specified in the ACME ARI draft 3. It is returned as return value `cert_id` of the community.crypto.acme_certificate_renewal_info module. ACME servers might refuse to create new orders that indicate to replace a certificate for which an active replacement order already exists. This can happen if this module is used to create an order, and then the playbook/role fails in case the challenges cannot be set up. If the playbook/role does not record the order data to continue with the existing order, but tries to create a new one on the next run, creating the new order might fail. If `order_creation_error_strategy=fail` this will make the module fail. `order_creation_error_strategy=auto` and `order_creation_error_strategy=retry_without_replaces_cert_id` will avoid this by leaving away `replaces` on retries. If `order_creation_error_strategy=fail`, for the above reason, this option should only be used if the role/playbook using it keeps track of order data accross restarts, or if it takes care to deactivate orders whose processing is aborted. Orders can be deactivated with the community.crypto.acme_certificate_deactivate_authz module.
request_timeout integer added in community.crypto 2.3.0	The time Ansible should wait for a response from the ACME API. This timeout is applied to all HTTP(S) requests (HEAD, GET, POST). Default: `10`
select_crypto_backend string	Determines which crypto backend to use. The default choice is `auto`, which tries to use `cryptography` if available, and falls back to `openssl`. If set to `openssl`, will try to use the `openssl` binary. If set to `cryptography`, will try to use the cryptography library. Choices: `"auto"` ← (default) `"cryptography"` `"openssl"`
validate_certs boolean	Whether calls to the ACME directory will validate TLS certificates. Warning: Should only ever be set to `false` for testing purposes, for example when testing against a local Pebble server. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)

Attributes 

Attribute	Support	Description
action_group	Action groups: community.crypto.acme, acme	Use `group/acme` or `group/community.crypto.acme` in `module_defaults` to set defaults for this module.
check_mode	Support: none	Can run in `check_mode` and return changed status prediction without modifying target.
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in `check_mode`), when in diff mode.
idempotent	Support: none	When run twice in a row outside check mode, with the same arguments, the second invocation indicates no change. This assumes that the system controlled/queried by the module has not changed in a relevant way.

Notes 

Note

Although the defaults are chosen so that the module can be used with the Let’s Encrypt CA, the module can in principle be used with any CA providing an ACME endpoint, such as Buypass Go SSL.
So far, the ACME modules have only been tested by the developers against Let’s Encrypt (staging and production), Buypass (staging and production), ZeroSSL (production), and Pebble testing server. We have got community feedback that they also work with Sectigo ACME Service for InCommon. If you experience problems with another ACME server, please create an issue to help us supporting it. Feedback that an ACME server not mentioned does work is also appreciated.
If a new enough version of the cryptography library is available (see Requirements for details), it will be used instead of the openssl binary. This can be explicitly disabled or enabled with the select_crypto_backend option. Note that using the openssl binary will be slower and less secure, as private key contents always have to be stored on disk (see account_key_content).

Examples 

### Example with HTTP-01 challenge ###

- name: Create a challenge for sample.com using a account key from a variable
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_create:
    account_key_content: "{{ account_private_key }}"
    csr: /etc/pki/cert/csr/sample.com.csr
  register: sample_com_challenge

# Alternative first step:
- name: Create a challenge for sample.com using a account key from Hashi Vault
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_create:
    account_key_content: >-
      {{ lookup('community.hashi_vault.hashi_vault', 'secret=secret/account_private_key:value') }}
    csr: /etc/pki/cert/csr/sample.com.csr
  register: sample_com_challenge

# Alternative first step:
- name: Create a challenge for sample.com using a account key file
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_create:
    account_key_src: /etc/pki/cert/private/account.key
    csr_content: "{{ lookup('file', '/etc/pki/cert/csr/sample.com.csr') }}"
  register: sample_com_challenge

# Perform the necessary steps to fulfill the challenge. For example:
#
# - name: Copy http-01 challenges
#   ansible.builtin.copy:
#     dest: /var/www/{{ item.identifier }}/{{ item.challenges['http-01'].resource }}
#     content: "{{ item.challenges['http-01'].resource_value }}"
#   loop: "{{ sample_com_challenge.challenge_data }}"
#   when: "'http-01' in item.challenges"

- name: Let the challenge be validated
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_validate:
    account_key_src: /etc/pki/cert/private/account.key
    order_uri: "{{ sample_com_challenge.order_uri }}"
    challenge: http-01

- name: Retrieve the cert and intermediate certificate
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_finalize:
    account_key_src: /etc/pki/cert/private/account.key
    csr: /etc/pki/cert/csr/sample.com.csr
    order_uri: "{{ sample_com_challenge.order_uri }}"
    cert_dest: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com.crt
    fullchain_dest: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com-fullchain.crt
    chain_dest: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com-intermediate.crt

### Example with DNS challenge against production ACME server ###

- name: Create a challenge for sample.com using a account key file.
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_create:
    acme_directory: https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    acme_version: 2
    account_key_src: /etc/pki/cert/private/account.key
    csr: /etc/pki/cert/csr/sample.com.csr
  register: sample_com_challenge

# Perform the necessary steps to fulfill the challenge. For example:
#
# - name: Create DNS records for dns-01 challenges
#   community.aws.route53:
#     zone: sample.com
#     record: "{{ item.key }}"
#     type: TXT
#     ttl: 60
#     state: present
#     wait: true
#     # Note: item.value is a list of TXT entries, and route53
#     # requires every entry to be enclosed in quotes
#     value: "{{ item.value | map('community.dns.quote_txt', always_quote=true) | list }}"
#   loop: "{{ sample_com_challenge.challenge_data_dns | dict2items }}"

- name: Let the challenge be validated
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_validate:
    acme_directory: https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    acme_version: 2
    account_key_src: /etc/pki/cert/private/account.key
    order_uri: "{{ sample_com_challenge.order_uri }}"
    challenge: dns-01

- name: Retrieve the cert and intermediate certificate
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_order_finalize:
    acme_directory: https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    acme_version: 2
    account_key_src: /etc/pki/cert/private/account.key
    csr: /etc/pki/cert/csr/sample.com.csr
    order_uri: "{{ sample_com_challenge.order_uri }}"
    cert_dest: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com.crt
    fullchain_dest: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com-fullchain.crt
    chain_dest: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com-intermediate.crt

Return Values 

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
account_uri string	ACME account URI. Returned: success
challenge_data list / elements=dictionary	For every identifier, provides the challenge information. Only challenges which are not yet valid are returned. Returned: changed
challenges dictionary	Information for different challenge types supported for this identifier. Returned: success
dns-01 dictionary	Information for `dns-01` authorization. A DNS TXT record needs to be created with the record name `challenge_data[].challenges.dns-01.record` and value `challenge_data[].challenges.dns-01.resource_value`. Returned: if the identifier supports `dns-01` authorization
record string	The full DNS record’s name for the challenge. Returned: success Sample: `"_acme-challenge.example.com"`
resource string	Always contains the string `_acme-challenge`. Returned: success Sample: `"_acme-challenge"`
resource_value string	The value the resource has to produce for the validation. Returned: success Sample: `"IlirfxKKXA...17Dt3juxGJ-PCt92wr-oA"`
http-01 dictionary	Information for `http-01` authorization. The server needs to make the path `challenge_data[].challenges.http-01.resource` accessible via HTTP (which might redirect to HTTPS). A `GET` operation to this path needs to provide the value from `challenge_data[].challenges.http-01.resource_value`. Returned: if the identifier supports `http-01` authorization
resource string	The path the value has to be provided under. Returned: success Sample: `".well-known/acme-challenge/evaGxfADs6pSRb2LAv9IZf17Dt3juxGJ-PCt92wr-oA"`
resource_value string	The value the resource has to produce for the validation. Returned: success Sample: `"IlirfxKKXA...17Dt3juxGJ-PCt92wr-oA"`
tls-alpn-01 dictionary	Information for `tls-alpn-01` authorization. A certificate needs to be created for the DNS name `challenge_data[].challenges.tls-alpn-01.resource` with acmeValidation X.509 extension of value `challenge_data[].challenges.tls-alpn-01.resource_value`. This certificate needs to be served when the application-layer protocol `acme-tls/1` is negotiated for a HTTPS connection to port 443 with the SNI extension for the domain name (`challenge_data[].challenges.tls-alpn-01.resource_original`) being validated. See https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8737.html#section-3 for details. Returned: if the identifier supports `tls-alpn-01` authorization
resource string	The DNS name for DNS identifiers, and the reverse DNS mapping (RFC1034, RFC3596) for IP addresses. Returned: success Sample: `"example.com"`
resource_original string	The original identifier including type identifier. Returned: success Sample: `"dns:example.com"`
resource_value string	The value the resource has to produce for the validation. Note: this return value contains a Base64 encoded version of the correct binary blob which has to be put into the acmeValidation X.509 extension; see https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8737.html#section-3 for details. To do this, you might need the ansible.builtin.b64decode Jinja filter to extract the binary blob from this return value. Returned: success Sample: `"AAb="`
identifier string	The identifier for this challenge. Returned: success Sample: `"example.com"`
identifier_type string	The identifier’s type. `dns` for DNS names, and `ip` for IP addresses. Returned: success Can only return: `"dns"` `"ip"` Sample: `"dns"`
challenge_data_dns dictionary	List of TXT values per DNS record for `dns-01` challenges. Only challenges which are not yet valid are returned. Returned: success
order_uri string	ACME order URI. Returned: success

Authors

Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)