So…I’ve had quite the time getting the site sorted. Come to find out, it’s much easier than initially thought. So, getting the site created is pretty straight forward using Hugo. What isn’t so apparent is the method to install SSL.

So, I built the server, installed the software and configured everything. It took a little time and effort, but it was well worth it. I refuse to pay anyone to do anything that I can do myself ensuring that it’s done correctly. With that said, I decided on Let’s Encrypt, a nonprofit Certificate Authrotiy, for my SSL needs. I highly recommend them!

The following tutorial-ish instructions are focused on GoDaddy, as they’re my domain host.

Once you have your site up and running you’re going to want to go to developer.godaddy.com and go to API Keys. Your going to then select Create New API Key. Pretty simple, right? I thought so. Once that’s done, make sure you save your Secret Key as you won’t see it once you close that screen. You can always retrieve your Public Key from the API Key Management page.

Once you have those you can move on to securing your site. However, you’re going to need to git yourself acme.sh from github. So…DO IT!

Once you’ve cloned the repository, it’s time to get to work. The first thing you’re going to do is export your API Key and Secret using the following commands.

[me@mysdesk]$ export GD_Key="your_API_Key_here"
[me@mysdesk]$ export GD_Secret="your_API_Secret_here"

Afterwhich you’ll run the following command to get your certificate issued and downloaded.

[me@mysdesk]$ bash acme.sh --issue --dns dns_gd -d yoursite.whatever -d www.yoursite.whatever

Once that command finishes without error, it’ll let you know where your cert, key, intermediate key and fullchain are located. Move them to where they need to be and then configure your webserver accordingly.

That’s all for now. I’ll do another run through on this and add details as needed. On another note. I’ll be adding a forum and videos to the Youtube page, sooner than later. Could still be a while, life is getting busy again.