🔐Adding HTTPS to Velocity MTA email message links

Before you begin, make sure Port 443 is open and unblocked by any other application, firewall, or SELinux policies on your server.

Instructions for automating the renewal of your Let's Encrypt certificate are at the end of this document, this is a one-time "set it and forget it" process.

Log into your VPS where your MTA installation resides using SSH on macOS or PuTTY on Windows

ssh [email protected]

*** Note: Use the the real IP address of your VPS above, not 1.2.3.4, this is just a placeholder.

Change directory to your Velocity MTA installation:

cd velocity-install

You must be on the latest build for Let's Encrypt to work:

./upgrade.sh

Run this command for each of your ESP tracking domains (email message links) you're going to use with Velocity MTA and provide your subdomain and domain as an argument.

./generate_link_certificate.sh link.yourdomain.com

*** Note: Use the the real subdomain and domain of your tracking link above, not link.yourdomain.com, this is just a placeholder. This is the domain in your email messages sent through the MTA using http:// currently.

Restart your MTA:

./restart.sh

Create an automated cron job that renews your link's Let's Encrypt certificate.

Run the following command and when you're asked which editor to use, select nano:

crontab -e

Copy and paste the following into the bottom of the editor, change the placeholder domain to your real tracking link domain, and hit ctrl-x to save:

* * */30 * * cd /root/velocity-install && ./renew_link_certificate.sh link.yourdomain.com > data/logs/certbot.log 2>&1

*** Note: Use the the real subdomain and domain of your tracking link above, not link.yourdomain.com, this is just a placeholder. This is the domain in your email messages send through your MTA using http:// currently.

*** Note: If your MTA is installed somewhere else other than /root/velocity-install you will need to modify that as well.

You're done! Your email links should be secured with https:// going forward.