DirectAdmin Hostname Certificates: Current ACME and Service Checks

DirectAdmin’s server-hostname certificate can cover its administration interface and other configured server services. Use the current administrator workflow rather than assuming an old request_single command and a restart establish correct installation and renewal.

Check prerequisites

Use an authorized administrator account. Confirm the configured hostname, public DNS and required validation route. Inspect existing service certificates and renewal ownership, including any intentionally installed paid certificate. Keep secure alternative access and a recoverable configuration.

Use server certificate management

Current DirectAdmin documentation describes Server Manager > Server TLS Certificate. Review the certificate status and ACME Settings; if enabling automatic issuance, select the supported provider and necessary names, then inspect the actual result. This is different from a user’s domain SSL Certificates page.

For authorized administrators who need a manual reissue, the current documented script form is /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/letsencrypt.sh server_cert. It changes service certificates and is not a read-only diagnostic command. Check the installed version’s documentation and prerequisites before running it; do not repeatedly invoke it to work around a validation failure.

Redirects are a separate setting

Review panel redirect configuration only after the hostname certificate works. A redirect target must be the intended covered hostname. Do not blindly set an old configuration value and restart a live panel without checking its current behavior and recovery path.

Verify every affected service

Check the administration interface and the mail/web/FTP endpoints actually using the hostname. Verify names, chain and expiry without bypassing warnings. Confirm how renewal propagates and monitor administrator failure messages. A successful website check is not proof of SMTP or IMAP certificate coverage.

Reference: DirectAdmin’s server-hostname ACME workflow.

Reviewed October 15, 2026. No root command, panel restart or live certificate request was executed.