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Create an SSL Certificate for n8n Server Using Nginx

Requirements

• A server running Ubuntu (or a similar OS that supports Certbot).

• Nginx installed.

• n8n installed and running.

• A domain name pointed to the server’s IP address.

• Ports 80 and 443 open.

1. Install Certbot

Certbot is a tool used to generate and renew SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt.

a. Install Certbot on the host machine

b. Verify installation

The result will display the version, e.g.: certbot 2.x.x.

c. Generate an SSL certificate

• --standalone tells Certbot to run a temporary web server for domain validation.

• -d yourdomain.com is your domain name.

Certbot will ask you a few questions (such as your email for notifications). Enter the details and wait a few seconds. Once completed, the certificates will be stored in:

Now, copy the certificate files into the ./certs directory:

Restart Nginx:

d. Set up automatic renewal

Certificates need to be renewed before they expire. Steps:

1. Renew the certificate when it has fewer than 30 days left.

2. Copy the new certificate files into the ./certs directory.

3. Reload Nginx inside Docker to apply the new certificate.

Create a script

Paste the following content (make sure to replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain):

Give execution permissions to the script:

Add the script to a cron job

Edit the cron table:

At the end of the file, add the following line to run the script every day at 2 AM:

e. Test the setup

Check if Certbot renewal works:

If successful, you’ll see a message like “Simulating renewal”.

Test the renewal script:

If no errors appear and Nginx reloads successfully, everything is working fine.