How to Delete Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates

Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates are digital credentials that secure website connections, and you delete them using the Certbot tool.

Certbot is a command-line program that helps you manage these free SSL certificates for your websites. It lets you create, renew, and also remove them.

You’ll typically find your Let’s Encrypt certificates stored in specific folders on your computer, like /etc/letsencrypt/live. You need to remove these files when a certificate is no longer needed or if it’s been compromised.

Before deleting, it’s a good practice to revoke the certificate. This lets the Certificate Authority know the certificate is no longer in use.

How to delete Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates on Ubuntu Linux

To delete Let’s Encrypt certificates on Ubuntu Linux, you can use the Certbot command to remove old certificate files you no longer need. This process helps keep your server tidy by cleaning up certificates that are not in use. You’ll need to access your server’s command line to run the specific command for the domain you want to manage.

Here’s how.

First, sign in to your server and open your command terminal. Then, run the commands below for the specific domain whose SSL certificate you want to delete.

sudo certbot delete --cert-name example.com

Replace example.com with the actual domain name.

If you don’t reference a domain name and run the commands below, it will list all the domains registered on the server.

sudo certbot delete

Then select the one from the list to delete.

Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log

Which certificate(s) would you like to delete?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1: example.com
2: example1.net
3: example2.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Select the appropriate numbers separated by commas and/or spaces, or leave input blank to select all options shown (Enter 'c' to cancel): 1

Select the domain next to the number you wish to delete and press Enter.

That should do it!

Related post:

• How to revoke a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate on Ubuntu Linux

Conclusion:

• Deleting Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates using Certbot is essential for maintaining a secure and organized server environment.
• After revoking a certificate, remnants of the certificate may still exist on the server, which can be eliminated by using Certbot to delete them.
• Following the step-by-step process described in this post ensures that unnecessary certificates are removed, optimizing the server’s security and efficiency.