Add guide for automatic DNS and certificate management in Control Center

articles/control-center/getting-started/automatic-dns-and-cert.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+---
+title: Automatic DNS records and certificates
+page-title: Automatic DNS records and certificates
+description: Learn how to configure Control Center to automatically create DNS records and certificates for your applications.
+meta-description: Learn how to configure Control Center to automatically create DNS records and certificates for your applications.
+order: 40
+---
+
+= Automatic DNS and Certificate Management
+
+Control Center simplifies the deployment of Vaadin applications by automating DNS record creation and certificate management. This ensures that applications are immediately accessible via their hostnames, secured with valid SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt.
+
+== Prerequisites
+
+To utilize this feature, ensure the following requirements are met:
+
+1. **ExternalDNS Operator**: This operator manages DNS records in supported DNS providers (can be installed with Control Center, see note below).
+2. **Supported DNS Service**: Control Center supports services compatible with ExternalDNS, such as Google Cloud DNS, Azure DNS, or DigitalOcean (for a full list of supported providers refer to the https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/external-dns[ExternalDNS documentation])
+
+[NOTE]
+====
+ExternalDNS can be optionally installed when setting up Control Center or added later as a standalone operator, see <<Configuring Control Center>>.
+====
+
+== Setting Up with DigitalOcean
+
+To enable automatic DNS and certificate management using DigitalOcean, follow these steps:
+
+=== Step 1: Generate DigitalOcean API Token
+
+1. Navigate to the **API** section of your DigitalOcean dashboard.
+2. Create a new token with full access to the `domain` scope.
+
+=== Step 2: Store the API Token in Kubernetes
+
+Save the generated token in a Kubernetes secret:
+
+[source,bash]
+----
+kubectl create secret generic digitalocean-api --from-literal=token=YOUR_GENERATED_TOKEN
+----
+
+[NOTE]
+====
+Specify a namespace if necessary:
+
+[source,bash]
+----
+kubectl -n my-namespace create secret generic digitalocean-api --from-literal=token=YOUR_GENERATED_TOKEN
+----
+====
+
+== Configuring Control Center
+
+Create a `my-values.yaml` file to enable the feature:
+
+[source,yaml]
+----
+domain: &domain example.com
+user:
+  email: [email protected]
+acme:
+  enabled: true
+external-dns:
+  enabled: true
+  provider:
+    name: digitalocean
+  txtOwnerId: "control-center"
+  domainFilters:
+    - *domain
+  env:
+    - name: DO_TOKEN
+      valueFrom:
+        secretKeyRef:
+          name: digitalocean-api
+          key: token
+----
+
+[IMPORTANT]
+====
+Setting `acme.enabled: true` enables automatic generation of SSL certificates by Let's Encrypt. To use your own certificates, omit this field or set it to `false`.
+====
+
+== Applying the Configuration
+
+Install or upgrade Control Center with the configuration:
+
+[source,bash]
+----
+helm upgrade -i control-center oci://docker.io/vaadin/control-center \
+  --namespace my-namespace --create-namespace \
+  --values my-values.yaml
+----
+
+== Benefits of Automatic DNS and Certificate Management
+
+Control Center streamlines the deployment process by:
+
+- **Automating DNS Configuration**: Ensures applications are accessible via their hostnames immediately after deployment.
+- **Simplifying SSL Management**: Automatically issues and renews valid SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt.
+- **Enhancing Security and Reliability**: Minimizes manual configuration errors and maintains secure connections effortlessly.
+
+By integrating these features, Control Center reduces administrative overhead and accelerates the deployment lifecycle, allowing developers to focus on building applications.
+
+== Additional Resources
+
+- https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/external-dns/latest/[ExternalDNS Documentation]
+- https://letsencrypt.org/docs/[Let's Encrypt Documentation]
+- https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/networking/dns/[DigitalOcean DNS Documentation]
+
+[NOTE]
+====
+For other DNS providers, refer to the https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/external-dns/blob/master/docs/tutorials.md[ExternalDNS provider tutorials].
+====