WIN-ACME

A simple ACMEv2 client for Windows (for use with Let's Encrypt et al.)
Download 2.2.9.1

HTTP validation

HTTP validation works as follows:

  • For each domain (e.g. sub.example.com), the ACME server sends a challenge consisting of an x and y value. The truth is actually a little more complicated than that, but for the sake of this explanation it will suffice.
  • The client has to make sure that when the ACME server makes a request to http://sub.example.com/.well-known/acme-challenge/x, the content of the HTTP response will be y with some specific headers set as well.
  • The validation request is always made to port 80, that cannot be changed.
  • The ACME server does follow 301/302 redirects.
  • There may be more than one validation request for the same token, e.g. from different locations or different protocols (IPv4/IPv6).
  • Let’s Encrypt does not disclose the source locations of these requests, which effectively means that the domain has to be accessible for the public, at least for the duration of the validation.