OK this probably should be in Help (home for newbies) as it has been years since I have been motivated to work with Apache.
I have a brand new VM and have put 2 VS domains on it.
Both domains acquired their LE certs without a problem.
domain 1 is displaying the correct page in the browser (Chrome)
domain 2 is displaying/jumps to a sub domain URL that doesn’t exist and an invalid certificate for a different domain! If I enter domain.tld/index.html I get the Default Domain default page for some other domain
At first I thought this could be a DNS propagation issue, but now I think about it, that makes no sense as LE must have located the A/AAAA or I would not have received the cert.
As i am browsing on Windows I have done an iptables /flushdns but no effect.
Ok - 48hr later and after simply giving up (going back to what I know (ie giving up on Apache).
I rebuilt the VM as LEMP and rebuilt the DNS for the domains at the VM provider. then created the same VS domains on the newly built VM.
Again. just as before: Virtualmin found the A/AAAA records and LE certificates installed.
And as expected the default page was displayed for both domain 1 and domain 2.
I can only conclude it was some weird propagation glitch. (to keep well clear of Apache)
I’m not blaming Virtualmin - unless there is some difference between obtaining LE certs for Apache vs Nginx (but can’t understand why)
DNS servers around the world receive DNS updates at different times, hence the issue of DNS propagation. Just because Lets encrypt servers have you new IP, does not mean your ISP has.
Sure I know that and there was a deliberate delay of 24 hours between putting the A/AAA records up (at the VM provider in the UK) and the creation of the VS in Virtualmin. Also knowing that LE would have probably used a “selection” of DNS search tools globally I had given time for the world to rotate.
It was this (in particular) that made no sense Web Configuration -> Preview Website and in Browser
Yep this is true, if you don’t research a different technology and work out how to use it, it’s simplicity to return to something you know and hope that fixes it. From my point of view I don’t get nginx configurations and always return to apache which I have used for the last 25 years (ish). You just get used to what you know
Sadly I used Apache for many years before I discovered Nginx and learned that in preference.
Sure, perhaps if I had kept up-to-date with Apache - then my attitude might be less clouded.
It was a mistake for me to attempt the move (being persuaded by a client). I have accepted that the DNS issue was NOT the fault of Webmin/Virtualmin - and probably not the fault of Webserver choice.
But using DNS lookup tools like the one suggested above were giving me valid lookup pointing to the IP of the VM and same for both domains.
I just could not understand why (given that both domains pointed to the same IP) one of them resulted in a default page from a different IP and a cert that was incorrect.
Anyway all is fixed now and I have told the domain owner to start using it.