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Cloud & Infrastructure
AWS Blog·Jun 30·5 min read
AWS Blog·Jun 30·5 min readAutomate public TLS certificate issuance with ACME support in AWS Certificate Manager
TL;DR
Managing TLS certificates is challenging due to their expiration and the need for manual renewal. AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) now supports the Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME) protocol, allowing for automated issuance of public TLS certificates.
✦ Why It Matters
Engineers can now automate TLS certificate management, reducing downtime and improving security across applications.
Key Takeaways
- Implement ACME support in AWS Certificate Manager for automation.
- Use ACMEv2-compatible clients like Certbot for certificate management.
- Centralize TLS certificate management to improve visibility.
- Control certificate requests and domain permissions effectively.
Full Summary
TLS certificates are essential for secure communications, but their short validity periods create management challenges, especially as the maximum validity will decrease to 100 days in 2027 and 47 days by 2029. To address this, AWS has integrated ACME support into AWS Certificate Manager (ACM), enabling automated issuance, renewal, and revocation of public TLS certificates using the ACME protocol.
This allows users to utilize any ACMEv2-compatible client, such as Certbot or cert-manager for Kubernetes, to manage certificates seamlessly. Previously, organizations had to rely on external certificate authorities, leading to fragmented management and limited visibility.
With the new managed ACME endpoint in ACM, administrators can now monitor and control certificate usage centrally. This change enhances security and efficiency, allowing for better governance over who can request certificates and which domains are permitted.
Overall, this development simplifies TLS certificate management significantly for engineers and organizations.