Qugstart
Certificate chain checklist near terminal output.

SSL and Certificates Playbook

Certificate installation and troubleshooting sequence for Node.js and Linux services.

Use this when handling TLS renewals or handshake failures.

Preflight

  • Match private key to certificate
  • Verify chain file order
  • Confirm service account file permissions

Deployment

  • Install key, cert, and chain in expected paths
  • Restart service and inspect startup logs
  • Test from CLI and browser clients

Failure triage

  • Unknown CA usually means chain file issue
  • Handshake timeout often signals protocol mismatch
  • Intermittent failures can be stale upstream cache