# Need help with dual container. Issue with LetsEncrypt for a few days now

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/need-help-with-dual-container-issue-with-letsencrypt-for-a-few-days-now/411097>\
**Category:** Self-hosting\
**Tags:** unsupported-install, two-container, letsencrypt\
**Created:** [August 27, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/need-help-with-dual-container-issue-with-letsencrypt-for-a-few-days-now/411097 "2026-08-27T19:27:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jmx/32/579660_2.png) [@jmx](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jmx)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/need-help-with-dual-container-issue-with-letsencrypt-for-a-few-days-now/411097/7 "2026-10-07T17:13:18Z")

</div>

I recently ran into a related issue in `cert_exists()` while investigating Let’s Encrypt certificate reuse.

In my case the certificate files and both RSA/ECDSA directories were present, but the current check was still returning false because `openssl x509 -in ca.cer` only keeps the first certificate from the issuer bundle.

Using:

```plaintext
openssl verify -untrusted ca.cer fullchain.cer

```

fixed the verification. I also tested it with actual RSA and ECDSA certificates and completed a rebuild that reused both existing certificates without triggering forced reissuance.

This may not be the same root cause as the missing `_ecc` directory described in this topic, but it affects the same `cert_exists()` path, so I’m linking it here in case it’s useful for anyone hitting similar symptoms.

Report: [Let's Encrypt cert\_exists() truncates the CA chain, causing forced reissuance and rate-limit failures](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lets-encrypt-cert-exists-truncates-the-ca-chain-causing-forced-reissuance-and-rate-limit-failures/414167)  
PR: [FIX: preserve the Let's Encrypt issuer chain in cert\_exists - Pull Request #1136 - discourse/discourse\_docker - GitHub](https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker/pull/1136)

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