community.crypto.acme_certificate_renewal_info module – Determine whether a certificate should be renewed or not

Note

This module is part of the community.crypto collection (version 2.26.5).

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_renewal_info.

New in community.crypto 2.20.0

Synopsis

  • Uses various information to determine whether a certificate should be renewed or not.

  • If available, the ARI extension (ACME Renewal Information, RFC 9773) is used.

Requirements

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

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

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.

For HARICA, the production directory URL for ACME v2 is https://acme.harica.gr/XXX/directory with XXX being specific to your account.

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

ari_algorithm

string

If ARI information is used, selects which algorithm is used to determine whether to renew now.

standard selects the algorithm provided in the the ARI specification.

start returns should_renew=true once the start of the renewal interval has been reached.

Choices:

  • "standard" ← (default)

  • "start"

certificate_content

string

The content of the X.509 certificate to determine renewal of.

certificate_path and certificate_content are mutually exclusive.

certificate_path

path

A path to the X.509 certificate to determine renewal of.

In case the certificate does not exist, the module will always return should_renew=true.

certificate_path and certificate_content are mutually exclusive.

now

string

Use this timestamp instead of the current timestamp to determine whether a certificate should be renewed.

Time can be specified either as relative time or as absolute timestamp.

Time will always be interpreted as UTC.

Valid format is [+-]timespec | ASN.1 TIME where timespec can be an integer + [w | d | h | m | s] (for example +32w1d2h).

remaining_days

integer

The number of days the certificate must have left being valid.

For example, if remaining_days=20, this check causes should_renew=true if the certificate is valid for less than 20 days.

remaining_percentage

float

The percentage of the certificate’s validity period that should be left.

For example, if remaining_percentage=0.1, and the certificate’s validity period is 90 days, this check causes should_renew=true if the certificate is valid for less than 9 days.

Must be a value between 0 and 1.

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"

treat_parsing_error_as_non_existing

boolean

added in community.crypto 2.24.0

Determines the behavior when the certificate file exists or its contents are provided, but the certificate cannot be parsed.

If true, will exit successfully with exists=true, parsable=false, and should_renew=true.

If false, the module will fail.

If the file exists, but cannot be loaded due to I/O errors or permission errors, the module always fails.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

use_ari

boolean

Whether to use ARI information, if available.

Set this to false if the ACME server implements ARI in a way that is incompatible with this module.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

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

check_mode

Support: full

This action does not modify state.

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target.

diff_mode

Support: N/A

This action does not modify state.

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode.

idempotent

Support: partial

The module is not idempotent if now is a relative timestamp, or is not specified.

If use_ari=true, the module is not idempotent if ari_algorithm=standard.

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 and with HARICA. 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.

See Also

See also

community.crypto.acme_certificate

Allows to obtain a certificate using the ACME protocol.

community.crypto.acme_ari_info

Obtain renewal information for a certificate.

Examples

---
- name: Retrieve renewal information for a certificate
  community.crypto.acme_certificate_renewal_info:
    certificate_path: /etc/httpd/ssl/sample.com.crt
  register: cert_data

- name: Should the certificate be renewed?
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: cert_data.should_renew

Return Values

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

Key

Description

cert_id

string

The certificate ID according to Section 4.1 in RFC 9773.

Returned: success, the certificate exists, and has an Authority Key Identifier X.509 extension

Sample: "aYhba4dGQEHhs3uEe6CuLN4ByNQ.AIdlQyE"

exists

boolean

added in community.crypto 2.24.0

Whether the certificate file exists, or certificate_content was provided.

Returned: success

Sample: true

msg

string

Information on the reason for renewal.

Should be shown to the user, as in case of ARI triggered renewal it can contain important information, for example on forced revocations for misissued certificates.

Returned: success

Sample: "The certificate does not exist."

parsable

boolean

added in community.crypto 2.24.0

Whether the certificate file exists, or certificate_content was provided, and the certificate can be parsed.

Can only differ from exists if treat_parsing_error_as_non_existing=true.

Returned: success

Sample: true

should_renew

boolean

Whether the certificate should be renewed.

If no certificate is provided, or the certificate is expired, will always be true.

Returned: success

Sample: true

supports_ari

boolean

Whether ARI information was used to determine renewal. This can be used to determine whether to specify include_renewal_cert_id=when_ari_supported for the community.crypto.acme_certificate module.

If use_ari=false, this will always be false.

Returned: success

Sample: true

Authors

  • Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)