Portainer Documentation
Official WebsiteKnowledge BasePricingGet 3 Nodes of BE Free
2.21 LTS
2.21 LTS
  • Welcome
  • What's new in version 2.21
  • Release Notes
  • Getting Started
    • Introduction
    • Portainer architecture
    • Lifecycle policy
    • Requirements and prerequisites
    • Install Portainer BE
      • Set up a new Portainer BE Server installation
        • Docker Standalone
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on Linux
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on Windows Container Service
        • Docker Swarm
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on Linux
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on Windows Container Service
        • Kubernetes
          • Install Portainer BE on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer BE with Kubernetes on WSL / Docker Desktop
        • Initial setup
    • Install Portainer CE
      • Set up a new Portainer CE Server installation
        • Docker Standalone
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on Linux
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on Windows Container Service
        • Docker Swarm
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on Linux
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on Windows Container Service
        • Kubernetes
          • Install Portainer CE on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer CE with Kubernetes on WSL / Docker Desktop
        • Initial setup
    • Add an environment to an existing installation
    • Updating Portainer
      • Updating on Docker Standalone
      • Updating on Docker Swarm
      • Updating on Kubernetes
      • Updating on Nomad
      • Updating the Edge Agent
      • Updating from Portainer 1.x
      • Switching to Portainer Business Edition
        • Upgrade to Business Edition from within Portainer Community Edition
        • Docker Standalone
        • Docker Swarm
        • Kubernetes
        • Upgrading Agent-only deployments
  • Using Portainer
    • Home
      • Snapshot browsing
      • OpenAMT
    • Docker/Swarm
      • Dashboard
      • Templates
        • Application
        • Custom templates
        • Deploy a stack
        • Deploy a container
      • Stacks
        • Add a new stack
        • Inspect or edit a stack
        • Create a template from a deployed stack
        • Webhooks
        • Migrate or duplicate a stack
        • Remove a stack
      • Services
        • Add a new service
        • Configure service options
        • Scale a service
        • View the status of a service task
        • View service logs
        • Roll back a service
        • Webhooks
      • Containers
        • Add a new container
        • View a container's details
        • Inspect a container
        • Edit or duplicate a container
        • Advanced container settings
        • Webhooks
        • Attach a volume to a container
        • View container logs
        • View container statistics
        • Access a container's console
        • Change container ownership
        • Remove a container
      • Images
        • Pull an image
        • Build a new image
        • Import an image
        • Export an image
      • Networks
        • Add a new network
        • Remove a network
      • Volumes
        • Add a new volume
        • Browse a volume
        • Remove a volume
      • Configs
        • Add a new config
        • Remove a config
      • Secrets
        • Add a new secret
        • Remove a secret
      • Events
      • Host
        • Details
        • Setup
        • Registries
      • Swarm
        • Details
        • Cluster visualizer
        • Setup
        • Registries
    • Kubernetes
      • Dashboard
      • kubectl shell
      • Kubeconfig
      • Custom Templates
        • Add a new custom template
        • Edit a custom template
        • Remove a custom template
      • Namespaces
        • Add a new namespace
        • Manage a namespace
        • Manage access to a namespace
        • Remove a namespace
      • Helm
      • Applications
        • Add a new application using a form
        • Add a new application using a manifest
        • Inspect an application
        • Inspect a Helm application
        • Edit an application
        • Webhooks
        • Detach a volume from an application
        • Remove an application
      • Networking
        • Services
        • Ingresses
          • Add an Ingress manually
          • Add an Ingress using a manifest
          • Remove an Ingress
      • ConfigMaps & Secrets
        • Add a ConfigMap
        • Add a Secret
      • Volumes
        • Inspect a volume
        • Remove a volume
      • More Resources
        • Service Accounts
        • Cluster Roles
        • Roles
      • Cluster
        • Details
        • Inspect a node
        • Setup
        • Security constraints
        • Registries
    • Azure ACI
      • Dashboard
      • Container instances
        • Add a new container
        • Remove a container
    • Nomad
    • Edge Compute
      • Edge Groups
      • Edge Stacks
        • Add a new Edge Stack
      • Edge Jobs
      • Edge Configurations
      • Waiting Room
      • Edge Templates
        • Application
        • Custom
    • Account settings
  • Administering Portainer
    • User-related
      • Users
      • Add a new user
      • Turn a user into an administrator
      • Reset a user's password
      • Teams
        • Add a new team
        • Add a user to a team
      • Roles
    • Environment-related
      • Environments
      • Add a new environment
        • Add a local environment
        • Add a Docker Standalone environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on Docker Standalone
          • Connect to the Docker API
          • Connect to the Docker Socket
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Docker Standalone
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Docker Standalone
        • Add a Docker Swarm environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on Docker Swarm
          • Connect to the Docker API
          • Connect to the Docker Socket
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Docker Swarm
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Docker Swarm
        • Add a Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Kubernetes
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Kubernetes
          • Import an existing Kubernetes environment
        • Add an ACI environment
        • Add a Nomad environment
        • Provision KaaS Cluster
          • Civo
          • Akamai Connected Cloud
          • DigitalOcean
          • Google Cloud
          • AWS
          • Azure
        • Create a Kubernetes cluster
          • MicroK8s
            • Offline installation
        • Add an environment via the Portainer API
      • Auto onboarding
      • Groups
      • Tags
      • Manage access to environments
      • Manage access to environment groups
      • Update & Rollback
    • Registries
      • Add a new registry
        • Add a DockerHub account
        • Add an AWS ECR registry
        • Add a Quay.io registry
        • Add a ProGet registry
        • Add an Azure registry
        • Add a Gitlab registry
        • Add a GitHub registry
        • Add a custom registry
      • Browse a registry
      • Manage a registry
    • Licenses
    • Logs
      • Authentication
      • Activity
    • Notifications
    • Settings
      • General
      • Authentication
        • Authenticate via LDAP
        • Authenticate via Active Directory
        • Authenticate via OAuth
      • Shared credentials
        • Add Civo credentials
        • Add Akamai Connected Cloud credentials
        • Add DigitalOcean credentials
        • Add Google Cloud credentials
        • Add AWS credentials
        • Add Azure credentials
        • Add SSH credentials
      • Edge Compute
  • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Portainer Concepts
    • Installing
    • Upgrading
    • Troubleshooting
    • Contributing
  • Advanced Topics
    • CLI configuration options
    • App templates
      • Build and host your own app templates
      • App template JSON format
    • The Portainer Edge Agent
    • Access control
    • Reset the admin user's password
    • Security and compliance
    • Encrypting the Portainer database
    • Using your own SSL certificate with Portainer
    • Using mTLS with Portainer
    • Stream auth and activity logs to an external provider
    • Using Portainer with reverse proxies
      • Deploying Portainer behind Traefik Proxy
      • Deploying Portainer behind nginx reverse proxy
    • How Relative Path Support works in Portainer
    • Helm chart configuration options
    • Docker roles and permissions
    • Kubernetes roles and bindings
    • Deprecated and removed features
  • API
    • Accessing the Portainer API
    • API documentation
    • API usage examples
  • Get More Help
    • Knowledge Base
    • Portainer Academy
    • YouTube
    • GitHub
    • Slack
    • Discord
    • Open a support request
  • Contribute to Portainer
    • Contribute
    • Build instructions
      • Set up a macOS build environment
      • Set up a Linux build environment
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Using your own SSL certificate on Docker Standalone
  • Using your own SSL certificate on Docker Swarm
  • Using your own SSL certificate on Kubernetes (via Helm)

Was this helpful?

Edit on GitHub
  1. Advanced Topics

Using your own SSL certificate with Portainer

PreviousEncrypting the Portainer databaseNextUsing mTLS with Portainer

Last updated 4 months ago

Was this helpful?

By default, Portainer’s web interface and API is exposed over HTTPS with a self-signed certificate generated by the installation. This can be replaced with your own SSL certificate either after installation or during installation, as explained in this article.

When using your own externally-issued certificate, ensure that you include the full certificate chain (including any intermediate certificates) in the file you provide via --sslcert. Without this you may face certificate validation issues. Your certificate chain can be obtained either from your certificate issuer or the website.

Using your own SSL certificate on Docker Standalone

Portainer expects certificates in PEM format.

Use the --sslcert and --sslkey flags during installation.

Upload your certificate (including the chain) and key to the server running Portainer, then start Portainer referencing them. The following command assumes your certificates are stored in /path/to/your/certs with the filenames portainer.crt and portainer.key, and bind-mounts the directory to /certs in the Portainer container:

docker run -d -p 9443:9443 -p 8000:8000 \
    --name portainer --restart always \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    -v portainer_data:/data \
    -v /path/to/your/certs:/certs \
    portainer/portainer-ee:2.21.5 \
    --sslcert /certs/portainer.crt \
    --sslkey /certs/portainer.key
docker run -d -p 9443:9443 -p 8000:8000 \
    --name portainer --restart always \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    -v portainer_data:/data \
    -v /path/to/your/certs:/certs \
    portainer/portainer-ce:2.21.5 \
    --sslcert /certs/portainer.crt \
    --sslkey /certs/portainer.key

Alternatively, Certbot can be used to generate a certificate and a key. Because Docker has issues with symlinks, if you use Certbot you will need to pass both the 'live' and 'archive' directories as volumes, as well as use the full chain certificate. For example:

docker run -d -p 9443:9443 -p 8000:8000 \
    --name portainer --restart always \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    -v portainer_data:/data \
    -v /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain:/certs/live/yourdomain:ro \
    -v /etc/letsencrypt/archive/yourdomain:/certs/archive/yourdomain:ro \
    portainer/portainer-ee:2.21.5 \
    --sslcert /certs/live/yourdomain/fullchain.pem \
    --sslkey /certs/live/yourdomain/privkey.pem
docker run -d -p 9443:9443 -p 8000:8000 \
    --name portainer --restart always \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    -v portainer_data:/data \
    -v /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain:/certs/live/yourdomain:ro \
    -v /etc/letsencrypt/archive/yourdomain:/certs/archive/yourdomain:ro \
    portainer/portainer-ce:2.21.5 \
    --sslcert /certs/live/yourdomain/fullchain.pem \
    --sslkey /certs/live/yourdomain/privkey.pem

When you're finished, you can navigate to https://$ip-docker-host:9443.

Using your own SSL certificate on Docker Swarm

To provide your own SSL certificate for Docker Swarm, simply define the portainer.sslcert and portainer.sslkey secrets, and the installation manifest will automatically detect and use them:

docker secret create portainer.sslcert /path/to/your/certificate.crt
docker secret create portainer.sslkey /path/to/your/certificate.key

Next, retrieve the stack YML manifest:

Business Edition:

curl -L https://downloads.portainer.io/ee2-21/portainer-agent-stack-ssl.yml -o portainer-agent-stack.yml

Community Edition:

curl -L https://downloads.portainer.io/ce2-21/portainer-agent-stack-ssl.yml -o portainer-agent-stack.yml

Business Edition:

curl https://downloads.portainer.io/ee2-21/portainer-windows-stack-ssl.yml -o portainer-agent-stack.yml

Community Edition:

curl https://downloads.portainer.io/ce2-21/portainer-windows-stack-ssl.yml -o portainer-agent-stack.yml

Finally, use the downloaded YML manifest to deploy your stack:

docker stack deploy -c portainer-agent-stack.yml portainer

Using your own SSL certificate on Kubernetes (via Helm)

If it doesn't already exist, create the portainer namespace:

kubectl create namespace portainer

Next, create a TLS secret containing the full certificate chain and matching private key:

kubectl create secret tls portainer-tls-secret -n portainer \
    --cert=/path/to/cert/file \
    --key=/path/to/key/file

Install via helm with the tls.existingSecret parameter set to the name of the secret you just created:

Business Edition:

helm install -n portainer portainer portainer/portainer \
    --set tls.existingSecret=portainer-tls-secret \
    --set enterpriseEdition.enabled=true

Community Edition:

helm install -n portainer portainer portainer/portainer \
    --set tls.existingSecret=portainer-tls-secret

Business Edition:

helm install -n portainer portainer portainer/portainer \
    --set tls.existingSecret=portainer-tls-secret \
    --set service.type=LoadBalancer \
    --set enterpriseEdition.enabled=true 

Community Edition:

helm install -n portainer portainer portainer/portainer \
    --set tls.existingSecret=portainer-tls-secret \
    --set service.type=LoadBalancer

For more information about secrets, read .

Docker's own documentation
What's My Chain Cert?
via the Portainer UI