# Re-installing and Let's Encrypt
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-installing-and-lets-encrypt/300358
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Created:** [March 21, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-installing-and-lets-encrypt/300358 "2024-03-21T13:48:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JPD](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JPD)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-installing-and-lets-encrypt/300358/1 "2024-03-21T13:48:33Z")
If, for any reasons (e.g. due to the failing migrations requiring re-installations or any other “experimenting”) you have to perform a few subsequent rebuild-app’s, what would be the safest way to ensure the already existing Let’s Encrypt cert is re-used and not re-issued?
As I understand (this is what I saw in some post here), after a few tries Let’s Encrypt blocks your cert for some time (days?), hence the question.
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### Author:  [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-installing-and-lets-encrypt/300358/2 "2024-03-21T14:09:53Z")
Rebuild should not reissue a certificate every time, only when it is due for renewal,
If you are wiping the server and then re-installing discourse then it will become a problem.
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### Author:  [@JPD](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JPD)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-installing-and-lets-encrypt/300358/3 "2024-03-21T18:39:02Z")
Are you sure? I mean, “should not” or “will not”? In my case after probably the 4th discourse-setup within the same existing installation the server finally started to “time-out” (for a few days). There are many posts here advising to use ./discourse-setup when you need to modify setup details, emails etc.
There are those 3 lines in the app.yml:
```plaintext
## Uncomment these two lines if you wish to add Lets Encrypt (https)
- "templates/web.ssl.template.yml"
- "templates/web.letsencrypt.ssl.template.yml"
```
but I’m not sure whether commenting them out means the existing cert will be left/reused or there will be no cert at all.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-installing-and-lets-encrypt/300358/4 "2024-03-22T18:53:34Z")
> [@JPD](#):
>
> In my case after probably the 4th discourse-setup within the same existing installation the server finally started to “time-out” (for a few days).
Did it work and got a certificate and you didn’t change the hostname after that?
> [@JPD](#):
>
> commenting them out means the existing cert will be left/reused or there will be no cert at all.
You get no cert if you comment them out.