| title | description | services | documentationcenter | author | editor | ms.service | ms.workload | ms.tgt_pltfrm | ms.devlang | ms.topic | ms.date | ms.author |
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Tutorial - Configure HTTPS on a custom domain for Azure Front Door | Microsoft Docs |
In this tutorial, you learn how to enable and disable HTTPS on your Azure Front Door configuration for a custom domain. |
frontdoor |
duongau |
frontdoor |
infrastructure-services |
na |
na |
tutorial |
07/14/2021 |
duau |
This tutorial shows how to enable the HTTPS protocol for a custom domain that's associated with your Front Door under the frontend hosts section. By using the HTTPS protocol on your custom domain (for example, https://www.contoso.com), you ensure that your sensitive data is delivered securely via TLS/SSL encryption when it's sent across the internet. When your web browser is connected to a web site via HTTPS, it validates the web site's security certificate and verifies it's issued by a legitimate certificate authority. This process provides security and protects your web applications from attacks.
Azure Front Door supports HTTPS on a Front Door default hostname, by default. For example, if you create a Front Door (such as https://contoso.azurefd.net), HTTPS is automatically enabled for requests made to https://contoso.azurefd.net. However, once you onboard the custom domain 'www.contoso.com' you'll need to additionally enable HTTPS for this frontend host.
Some of the key attributes of the custom HTTPS feature are:
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No extra cost: There are no costs for certificate acquisition or renewal and no extra cost for HTTPS traffic.
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Simple enablement: One-click provisioning is available from the Azure portal. You can also use REST API or other developer tools to enable the feature.
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Complete certificate management is available: All certificate procurement and management is handled for you. Certificates are automatically provisioned and renewed before expiration, which removes the risks of service interruption because of a certificate expiring.
In this tutorial, you learn how to:
[!div class="checklist"]
- Enable the HTTPS protocol on your custom domain.
- Use an AFD-managed certificate
- Use your own certificate, that is, a custom TLS/SSL certificate
- Validate the domain
- Disable the HTTPS protocol on your custom domain
[!INCLUDE updated-for-az]
Before you can complete the steps in this tutorial, you must first create a Front Door and with at least one custom domain onboarded. For more information, see Tutorial: Add a custom domain to your Front Door.
To enable the HTTPS protocol for securely delivering content on a Front Door custom domain, you must use a TLS/SSL certificate. You can choose to use a certificate that is managed by Azure Front Door or use your own certificate.
When you use a certificate managed by Azure Front Door, the HTTPS feature can be turned on with just a few clicks. Azure Front Door completely handles certificate management tasks such as procurement and renewal. After you enable the feature, the process starts immediately. If the custom domain is already mapped to the Front Door's default frontend host ({hostname}.azurefd.net), no further action is required. Front Door will process the steps and complete your request automatically. However, if your custom domain is mapped elsewhere, you must use email to validate your domain ownership.
To enable HTTPS on a custom domain, follow these steps:
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In the Azure portal, browse to your Front Door profile.
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In the list of frontend hosts, select the custom domain you want to enable HTTPS for containing your custom domain.
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Under the section Custom domain HTTPS, select Enabled, and select Front Door managed as the certificate source.
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Select Save.
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Continue to Validate the domain.
Note
- For AFD managed certificates, DigiCert’s 64 character limit is enforced. Validation will fail if that limit is exceeded.
- Enabling HTTPS via Front Door managed certificate is not supported for apex/root domains (example: contoso.com). You can use your own certificate for this scenario. Please continue with Option 2 for further details.
You can use your own certificate to enable the HTTPS feature. This process is done through an integration with Azure Key Vault, which allows you to store your certificates securely. Azure Front Door uses this secure mechanism to get your certificate and it requires a few extra steps. When you create your TLS/SSL certificate, you must create a complete certificate chain with an allowed certificate authority (CA) that is part of the Microsoft Trusted CA List. If you use a non-allowed CA, your request will be rejected. If a certificate without complete chain is presented, the requests which involve that certificate are not guaranteed to work as expected.
- Azure Key Vault: You must have a running Azure Key Vault account under the same subscription as your Front Door that you want to enable custom HTTPS. Create an Azure Key Vault account if you don't have one.
Warning
Azure Front Door currently only supports Key Vault accounts in the same subscription as the Front Door configuration. Choosing a Key Vault under a different subscription than your Front Door will result in a failure.
- Azure Key Vault certificates: If you already have a certificate, you can upload it directly to your Azure Key Vault account or you can create a new certificate directly through Azure Key Vault from one of the partner CAs that Azure Key Vault integrates with. Upload your certificate as a certificate object, rather than a secret.
Note
For your own TLS/SSL certificate, Front Door doesn't support certificates with EC cryptography algorithms. The certificate must have a complete certificate chain with leaf and intermediate certificates, and root CA must be part of the Microsoft Trusted CA list.
Register the service principal for Azure Front Door as an app in your Azure Active Directory via PowerShell.
Note
This action requires Global Administrator permissions, and needs to be performed only once per tenant.
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If needed, install Azure PowerShell in PowerShell on your local machine.
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In PowerShell, run the following command:
New-AzADServicePrincipal -ApplicationId "ad0e1c7e-6d38-4ba4-9efd-0bc77ba9f037"
Grant Azure Front Door permission to access the certificates in your Azure Key Vault account.
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In your key vault account, under SETTINGS, select Access policies, then select Add new to create a new policy.
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In Select principal, search for ad0e1c7e-6d38-4ba4-9efd-0bc77ba9f037, and choose Microsoft.Azure.Frontdoor. Click Select.
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In Secret permissions, select Get to allow Front Door to retrieve the certificate.
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In Certificate permissions, select Get to allow Front Door to retrieve the certificate.
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Select OK.
Azure Front Door can now access this Key Vault and the certificates that are stored in this Key Vault.
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Return to your Front Door in the portal.
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In the list of custom domains, select the custom domain for which you want to enable HTTPS.
The Custom domain page appears.
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Under Certificate management type, select Use my own certificate.
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Azure Front Door requires that the subscription of the Key Vault account is the same as for your Front Door. Select a key vault, Secret, and Secret version.
Azure Front Door lists the following information:
- The key vault accounts for your subscription ID.
- The secrets under the selected key vault.
- The available secret versions.
[!NOTE] In order for the certificate to be automatically rotated to the latest version when a newer version of the certificate is available in your Key Vault, please set the secret version to 'Latest'. If a specific version is selected, you have to re-select the new version manually for certificate rotation. It takes up to 24 hours for the new version of the certificate/secret to be deployed.
:::image type="content" source="./media/front-door-custom-domain-https/certificate-version.png" alt-text="Screenshot of selecting secret version on update custom domain page.":::
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When you use your own certificate, domain validation isn't required. Continue to Wait for propagation.
If you already have a custom domain in use that gets mapped to your custom endpoint with a CNAME record or you're using your own certificate, continue to Custom domain is mapped to your Front Door. Otherwise, if the CNAME record entry for your domain no longer exists or it contains the afdverify subdomain, continue to Custom domain is not mapped to your Front Door.
When you added a custom domain to your Front Door's frontend hosts, you created a CNAME record in the DNS table of your domain registrar to map it to your Front Door's default .azurefd.net hostname. If that CNAME record still exists and doesn't contain the afdverify subdomain, the DigiCert Certificate Authority uses it to automatically validate ownership of your custom domain.
If you're using your own certificate, domain validation isn't required.
Your CNAME record should be in the following format, where Name is your custom domain name and Value is your Front Door's default .azurefd.net hostname:
| Name | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
| <www.contoso.com> | CNAME | contoso.azurefd.net |
For more information about CNAME records, see Create the CNAME DNS record.
If your CNAME record is in the correct format, DigiCert automatically verifies your custom domain name and creates a dedicated certificate for your domain name. DigitCert won't send you a verification email and you won't need to approve your request. The certificate is valid for one year and will be autorenewed before it expires. Continue to Wait for propagation.
Automatic validation typically takes a few mins. If you don't see your domain validated within an hour, open a support ticket.
Note
If you have a Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) record with your DNS provider, it must include DigiCert as a valid CA. A CAA record allows domain owners to specify with their DNS providers which CAs are authorized to issue certificates for their domain. If a CA receives an order for a certificate for a domain that has a CAA record and that CA is not listed as an authorized issuer, it is prohibited from issuing the certificate to that domain or subdomain. For information about managing CAA records, see Manage CAA records. For a CAA record tool, see CAA Record Helper.
If the CNAME record entry for your endpoint no longer exists or it contains the afdverify subdomain, follow the rest of the instructions in this step.
After you enable HTTPS on your custom domain, the DigiCert CA validates ownership of your domain by contacting its registrant, according to the domain's WHOIS registrant information. Contact is made via the email address (by default) or the phone number listed in the WHOIS registration. You must complete domain validation before HTTPS will be active on your custom domain. You have six business days to approve the domain. Requests that aren't approved within six business days are automatically canceled.
DigiCert also sends a verification email to other email addresses. If the WHOIS registrant information is private, verify that you can approve directly from one of the following addresses:
admin@<your-domain-name.com>
administrator@<your-domain-name.com>
webmaster@<your-domain-name.com>
hostmaster@<your-domain-name.com>
postmaster@<your-domain-name.com>
You should receive an email in a few minutes, similar to the following example, asking you to approve the request. If you are using a spam filter, add no-reply@digitalcertvalidation.com to its allowlist. If you don't receive an email within 24 hours, contact Microsoft support.
When you select the approval link, you're directed to an online approval form. Follow the instructions on the form; you have two verification options:
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You can approve all future orders placed through the same account for the same root domain; for example, contoso.com. This approach is recommended if you plan to add more custom domains for the same root domain.
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You can approve just the specific host name used in this request. Extra approval is required for subsequent requests.
After approval, DigiCert completes the certificate creation for your custom domain name. The certificate is valid for one year and will be autorenewed before it's expired.
After the domain name is validated, it can take up to 6-8 hours for the custom domain HTTPS feature to be activated. When the process is complete, the custom HTTPS status in the Azure portal is set to Enabled and the four operation steps in the custom domain dialog are marked as complete. Your custom domain is now ready to use HTTPS.
The following table shows the operation progress that occurs when you enable HTTPS. After you enable HTTPS, four operation steps appear in the custom domain dialog. As each step becomes active, more substep details appear under the step as it progresses. Not all of these substeps will occur. After a step successfully completes, a green check mark appears next to it.
| Operation step | Operation substep details |
|---|---|
| 1 Submitting request | Submitting request |
| Your HTTPS request is being submitted. | |
| Your HTTPS request has been submitted successfully. | |
| 2 Domain validation | Domain is automatically validated if it's CNAME mapped to the default .azurefd.net frontend host of your Front Door. Otherwise, a verification request will be sent to the email listed in your domain's registration record (WHOIS registrant). Verify the domain as soon as possible. |
| Your domain ownership has been successfully validated. | |
| Domain ownership validation request expired (customer likely didn't respond within 6 days). HTTPS won't be enabled on your domain. * | |
| Domain ownership validation request was rejected by the customer. HTTPS won't be enabled on your domain. * | |
| 3 Certificate provisioning | The certificate authority is currently issuing the certificate needed to enable HTTPS on your domain. |
| The certificate has been issued and is currently being deployed for your Front Door. This process could take from several minutes to an hour to complete. | |
| The certificate has been successfully deployed for your Front Door. | |
| 4 Complete | HTTPS has been successfully enabled on your domain. |
* This message doesn't appear unless an error has occurred.
If an error occurs before the request is submitted, the following error message is displayed:
We encountered an unexpected error while processing your HTTPS request. Please try again and contact support if the issue persists.
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Who is the certificate provider and what type of certificate is used?
A dedicated/single certificate, provided by Digicert, is used for your custom domain.
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Do you use IP-based or SNI TLS/SSL?
Azure Front Door uses SNI TLS/SSL.
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What if I don't receive the domain verification email from DigiCert?
If you have a CNAME entry for your custom domain that points directly to your endpoint hostname (and you aren't using the afdverify subdomain name), you won't receive a domain verification email. Validation occurs automatically. Otherwise, if you don't have a CNAME entry and you haven't received an email within 24 hours, contact Microsoft support.
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Is using a SAN certificate less secure than a dedicated certificate?
A SAN certificate follows the same encryption and security standards as a dedicated certificate. All issued TLS/SSL certificates use SHA-256 for enhanced server security.
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Do I need a Certificate Authority Authorization record with my DNS provider?
No, a Certificate Authority Authorization record isn't currently required. However, if you do have one, it must include DigiCert as a valid CA.
In the preceding steps, you enabled the HTTPS protocol on your custom domain. If you no longer want to use your custom domain with HTTPS, you can disable HTTPS by doing theses steps:
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In the Azure portal, browse to your Azure Front Door configuration.
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In the list of frontend hosts, select the custom domain for which you want to disable HTTPS.
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Click Disabled to disable HTTPS, then click Save.
After the custom domain HTTPS feature is disabled, it can take up to 6-8 hours for it to take effect. When the process is complete, the custom HTTPS status in the Azure portal gets set to Disabled and the three operation steps in the custom domain dialog are marked as complete. Your custom domain can no longer use HTTPS.
The following table shows the operation progress that occurs when you disable HTTPS. After you disable HTTPS, three operation steps appear in the Custom domain dialog. As each step becomes active, more details appear under the step. After a step successfully completes, a green check mark appears next to it.
| Operation progress | Operation details |
|---|---|
| 1 Submitting request | Submitting your request |
| 2 Certificate deprovisioning | Deleting certificate |
| 3 Complete | Certificate deleted |
In this tutorial, you learned how to:
- Upload a certificate to Key Vault.
- Validate a domain.
- Enable HTTPS for your custom domain.
To learn how to set up a geo-filtering policy for your Front Door, continue to the next tutorial.
[!div class="nextstepaction"] Set up a geo-filtering policy