# SSL zero length .cer file

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/ssl-zero-length-cer-file/281600>\
**Category:** Self-hosting\
**Created:** [October 9, 2023, 9:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ssl-zero-length-cer-file/281600 "2023-10-09T09:07:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ssl-zero-length-cer-file/281600/3 "2023-10-09T14:26:55Z")

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Did you run `discourse-setup`? It attempts to connect to itself to check that DNS points to the server and the ports are open, but it’s a crude test.

If you run a rebuild more than a few times without DNS and ports properly configured, you’ll hit let’s encrypt rate limits. If that’s the case, and I suspect it is, you’ll need to wait a week or use a different subdomain (or follow some complicated instructions to request a cert for the subdomain you want and another).

I think if you run `docker logs app` you might see where `acme` is failing to get a cert.

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