Tips and Tricks for Smooth AWS SSL Certificate Renewal and Management

Published On - September 18, 2025

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Managing SSL certificates in AWS is a crucial task for ensuring secure communication between clients and services. Whether using AWS Certificate Manager (ACM), Elastic Load Balancers, CloudFront distributions, or other resources, maintaining valid SSL/TLS certificates is essential to success in the cloud. However, organizations often overlook SSL certificate expiration, or fail to automate and streamline the renewal process. This can lead to service disruptions and security vulnerabilities.

This article outlines essential tips and tricks for the smooth renewal and management of SSL certificates on AWS. By following these practices, AWS professionals can ensure the seamless operation of applications and services across the cloud ecosystem.

1. Use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) for Automation

ACM simplifies the process of managing SSL/TLS certificates. For public certificates issued by ACM, renewals are handled automatically, without manual intervention. As long as the certificate is associated with a service like an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) or CloudFront distribution, AWS handles:

  • Renewal of the certificate
  • Validation of domain ownership
  • Deployment of the renewed certificate to supported AWS resources

To maximize this benefit:

  • Verify that DNS validation is used instead of email-based validation.
  • Ensure the validation CNAME records remain in place permanently in your DNS configuration.

This approach provides a nearly maintenance-free SSL lifecycle for resources that work with ACM-integrated services.

2. Monitor Expiration Dates Strategically

Whether you’re using ACM or importing third-party certificates, tracking expiration dates is vital. AWS provides monitoring tools such as:

  • ACM Console: View certificate status and expiration at a glance.
  • CloudWatch: Set up metrics and alarms for expiring certificates.
  • AWS Config: Track configuration changes to certificates and resources.

For third-party or manually managed certificates, it’s a best practice to create custom scripts or use monitoring services that check expiration and alert via email or AWS SNS.

3. Automate with AWS CLI and SDKs

Automation is critical for scaling certificate management. By leveraging AWS CLI or SDKs (Python’s boto3, for example), developers and DevOps teams can:

  • List and inspect existing certificates with their ARNs and statuses.
  • Automatically import new certificates when they are renewed externally.
  • Programmatically attach renewed certificates to resources like ELBs or CloudFront distributions.

Here’s a short example of using AWS CLI to list certificates nearing expiration:

aws acm list-certificates --query "CertificateSummaryList[?not_after<'2023-12-01']"

This automation is essential for hybrid environments where not all certificates originate in ACM.

4. Plan for Manual Renewal in Special Cases

While ACM automates public certificate renewal, this does not apply in every scenario. For example:

  • Private ACM-hosted certificates (via AWS Private CA)
  • Imported third-party certificates
  • Certificates used in EC2-backed applications or non-integrated services

For these cases, teams must ensure that certificate renewal and update processes are scheduled and documented. Maintain a calendar of expiration dates and use version control to track certificate changes and deployments.

5. Integrate Certificate Renewal into the CI/CD Pipeline

Modern infrastructure practices use CI/CD pipelines to deploy code and configuration changes. Integrating SSL certificate renewal into the CI/CD pipeline helps automate the deployment of refreshed certificates alongside code or infrastructure updates.

Using IaC tools like AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, or CDK allows developers to capture certificate ARNs, associate them with resources, and ensure that the infrastructure is always using the current version.

6. Use Tags for Better Management

AWS resources can be tagged for better categorization and searchability. Applying tags to certificates allows teams to filter them by ownership, environment (e.g. dev, test, prod), application, or renewal dates. Examples of helpful tags:

  • Owner: JohnDoe@example.com
  • Environment: Production
  • RenewBy: 2024-08-01

These tags can be used alongside AWS Config or custom Lambda-based reporting tools to improve accountability and proactive management.

7. Rotate Certificates Safely

When renewing or replacing certificates, particularly for imported or manually managed ones, cautious rotation is crucial to avoid breaking existing connections. Follow best practices:

  • Test the new certificate on a staging environment before applying it in production.
  • Use Blue/Green deployment strategies to gradually shift traffic.
  • Use DNS records or traffic shifting through Route53 to control rollout timing.

This approach minimizes downtime and connectivity issues during SSL certificate transitions.

8. Keep Private Keys Secure

Private key management is one of the most sensitive aspects of SSL certificate usage. For imported certificates, use AWS Secrets Manager or Systems Manager Parameter Store (with proper IAM policies) to store and access private keys safely. Avoid putting private key content in plain-text configuration files or scripts.

By managing keys properly, organizations reduce the risk of compromise while simplifying secure automation.

9. Leverage ACM Private CA for Internal Applications

Some internal services such as microservices, backend APIs, or internal tools require SSL but do not directly serve public internet content. In these cases, using AWS Certificate Manager Private Certificate Authority (ACM PCA) is a cost-effective and secure approach.

ACM PCA allows you to issue custom private certificates with automated renewal and integration, improving observability within your org’s services while maintaining CA-level control.

10. Review the Certificate Trust Chain

After each renewal, it’s recommended to validate the full trust chain of the certificate, especially for third-party imports. A broken trust chain or outdated intermediate certificate can render a valid certificate useless in browsers or API clients.

Use online tools or command-line utilities like OpenSSL to inspect and verify that the renewed certificate includes the full chain and is recognized by intended clients and endpoints.

FAQ – Common Questions About AWS SSL Certificate Renewal

  • Q: How often do ACM certificates renew?
    A: ACM automatically attempts to renew public certificates 45 days before expiration. As long as validation remains in place, renewal is seamless.
  • Q: Can you renew third-party certificates in ACM?
    A: No. You must manually renew third-party certificates externally and re-import the new versions into ACM.
  • Q: What happens if a certificate is close to expiration?
    A: AWS provides notifications and status changes for certificates in ACM. CloudWatch alarms can alert you. However, expired certificates will result in SSL errors if not updated.
  • Q: Can I use ACM certificates outside of AWS?
    A: No. Certificates issued by ACM (public) can only be used within supported AWS services such as ELB, CloudFront, and API Gateway.
  • Q: Is there a cost for renewing certificates in ACM?
    A: Public ACM certificates are issued and renewed for free, while ACM Private CA has associated costs based on usage.

In conclusion, managing SSL certificates in AWS doesn’t have to be daunting. By leveraging ACM features, monitoring proactively, automating with tools, and integrating with infrastructure pipelines, organizations can maintain security, availability, and trust—without scrambling as expiration dates approach.