coredns: production Let's Encrypt cert via Caddy sidecar (DNS-01 + Vultr)

Replaces the self-signed dev cert flow with a real LE prod cert for
dns.l.supported.systems, issued and auto-renewed by a Caddy sidecar
using DNS-01 challenge against the Vultr API.

Components:
- caddy/Dockerfile builds Caddy 2.10.0 with caddy-dns/vultr plugin
  via xcaddy. GOTOOLCHAIN=auto so xcaddy can fetch newer Go on demand
  when plugin versions advance their minimum Go.
- caddy/Caddyfile uses DNS-01 with explicit public resolvers (1.1.1.1,
  9.9.9.9) for the propagation check. Without that, Docker's embedded
  DNS leaks the container into the host's split-horizon LAN DNS, which
  returns LAN IPs for ns1.vultr.com and the propagation check fails.
- docker-compose: caddy service shares ./caddy-data with coredns via a
  read-only subpath mount that excludes /acme (account private key).
- Healthcheck doubles as a symlinker: maintains stable cert.pem /
  key.pem names at /data/caddy/ and chmods cert files + their dirs to
  be readable by CoreDNS's nonroot user. Flips to "healthy" only once
  the symlinks dereference (i.e. cert exists), gating CoreDNS start
  via depends_on: service_healthy.
- Corefile unchanged — same /etc/coredns/certs/cert.pem path; only the
  bind-mount source switches from ./certs to ./caddy-data/caddy.
- New Makefile target: tls-up orchestrates the bring-up sequence.

Cert is valid until Aug 12 2026. Verified end-to-end:
  dig @127.0.0.1 -p 8853 +tls +tls-hostname=dns.l.supported.systems ...
  dig @127.0.0.1 -p 8443 +https +tls-hostname=dns.l.supported.systems ...
This commit is contained in:
Ryan Malloy 2026-05-14 01:34:57 -06:00
parent 066ba1892a
commit c1afe77b27
6 changed files with 195 additions and 32 deletions

40
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# Caddy is used here purely as an ACME client + cert renewer for CoreDNS.
# The HTTPS site is technically served (Caddy can't issue without a site
# block), but we don't expose port 443 from this container — only the
# cert files in /data/caddy/ are consumed by the CoreDNS sidecar.
{
# Operator contact for Let's Encrypt; also used for expiry warnings.
email {$ACME_EMAIL}
# Skip the HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect server (we have nothing to redirect).
# Caddy still binds :443 inside the container for the cert site, which
# is fine because we don't publish those ports to the host.
auto_https disable_redirects
}
{$CADDY_HOSTNAME} {
tls {
# DNS-01 challenge via Vultr API. The plugin reads the token from
# the named env var; setting via {env.VULTR_API_KEY} would also
# work but the bare reference is clearer with Caddy's modules.
dns vultr {env.VULTR_API_KEY}
# Use PUBLIC resolvers for the propagation check, not Docker's
# embedded DNS. Without this, Caddy follows the container's
# resolv.conf → host's resolv.conf → local LAN resolvers, which
# on a split-horizon DNS setup will return LAN IPs for vultr.com
# nameservers and the propagation check fails with connection
# refused. Hitting 1.1.1.1 / 9.9.9.9 directly sidesteps it.
resolvers 1.1.1.1 9.9.9.9 1.0.0.1
# Vultr's NS propagation is generally fast (<30s) but LE checks
# multiple resolvers; cushion the wait to avoid flaky issuance.
propagation_delay 30s
propagation_timeout 300s
}
# A sensible response if anyone hits this on 443. Doubles as a
# "Caddy is alive" sanity check inside the compose network.
respond "CoreDNS DoT/DoH endpoint. DoT: port 853. DoH: /dns-query" 200
}

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# Custom Caddy build that bundles the Vultr DNS provider plugin.
# Stock caddy:2 doesn't include DNS-provider modules — they're plugins.
# xcaddy compiles them in at build time.
FROM caddy:2.10.0-builder AS builder
# The Caddy builder image bakes in Go 1.23, but caddy-dns/vultr now
# requires Go >= 1.24. GOTOOLCHAIN=auto lets `go get` fetch a newer
# toolchain on demand so we don't have to bump base images every time
# a plugin's minimum Go version moves.
ENV GOTOOLCHAIN=auto
RUN xcaddy build \
--with github.com/caddy-dns/vultr
FROM caddy:2.10.0
COPY --from=builder /usr/bin/caddy /usr/bin/caddy