A lot of times I've seen questions about how this works when you have multiple nodes or a CDN, it can be quite tricky in theory if you have random IPs or several IPs. The way certbot works at least for non-DNS challenges is that it will hit a random server that it resolves to, you have no control over which one it hits. If certbot hits node 1 at first to tell it to create the well-known file, then checks node 2 or any other node, you will find auhorization fails.........

For some reason, perhaps you don't want to run a daemon or let Letsencrypt have access to your production server. There is a way to use it like a normal CSR/CA setup in manual mode. ./letsencrypt-auto certonly --manual -d realtechtalk.com - www.realtechtalk.com   Eventually you will get prompted to create a certain path and file with certain data: Create a file containing just this data: Casdfasfadsfsad........

./certbot-auto --apache certonly Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator apache, Installer apache No names were found in your configuration files. Please enter in your domain name(s) (comma and/or space separated) (Enter 'c' to cancel): yourdomain.com Obtaining a new certificate Performing the following challenges: http-01 challenge for yourdomain.com Cleaning........