Tutorials

Get a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for Access Anywhere and automatically renew it.

Get a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for Access Anywhere and automatically renew it.

If you have visited this page before you notice we have changed the way Lets Encrypt certificates (Let's Encrypt - Free SSL/TLS Certificates) are requested. We now use ‘Certify the Web’ from Certify Your Windows IIS Website - free SSL and https powered by Let's Encrypt. A very easy to use tool to configure Let Encrypt certificates on your server for Anywhere Access. It is completely free up to 5 certificates and for most SMB’s this is more than enough. No more wrestling with Powershell as we did in the past, let's use ‘Certify the Web’.

Lets Encrypt certificates are valid for 90 days (lifetime) but renewal kicks in shortly after the certificate is 60 days old. The renewal is done by the Certify the Web software you install during this tutorial.

No, that is not needed at all. The renewed certificate is placed in the personal store of the machine certificates by Certify the Web and can be reused by Anywhere Access.

Before you can complete the procedure in this tutorial port 80 and 443 must be open to the server.

It is supported on Windows Server 2012 but not on SBS 2011 or 2008

In this tutorial, the 'Numinous Travel' company has set up its Windows Server 2016 server and configured the Essentials Experience role on it. Now they want to configure Anywhere Access but before they can do that they need to get a valid certificate from an official Certificate Authority and because they want it for free they are going to get a Lets Encrypt certificate (Let's Encrypt - Free SSL/TLS Certificates).

Free tutorial for registered users only

Register a new free account within 30 seconds and get access to this tutorial and many other on this site

Easy migration kits

Migration kit for migrating from one source (for example Windows Server 2012) to a new Windows Server environment built on the latest technology. This kit is ideal if you want to perform the migration of your old server yourself. The kit contains everything to ultimately run your infrastructure on more modern operating systems like Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022 or 2025. Success guaranteed!

All our migration kits and IT Pro Collections are backed with awesome support. In our store, you can choose to purchase support as part of your initial purchase or you can get ad hoc support by creating a support ticket here. Don't want to do it yourself? Migration support is also available through consulting service, contact us.

About server-essentials.com 

Server-essentials.com was established by Mariette Knap, an alumni Microsoft MVP. It serves as a community for IT Consultants and Business Owners who manage their own IT infrastructure, as well as for Employees who go the extra mile to ensure smooth operations. The forum is dedicated to discussions on all aspects of 'IT' and beyond. The documentation provided is of the highest quality and is crafted by and for the community.


Microsoft Partner

server-essentials.com
C. de Rijcklaan 1
3723 PM Bilthoven
The Netherlands 
Chamber of Commerce 90147480
VAT Id Number NL004793120B27