What Is a cert-manager Issuer?
A cert-manager issuer is a configuration object describing a source of certificates, such as an ACME provider, a private CA, or a self-signed signer, and the credentials needed to use it. Certificate requests reference an issuer, and cert-manager uses it to fetch, sign, and store the resulting TLS certificate. It can be namespaced or cluster-wide.
Why it matters
Issuers are the bridge between in-cluster certificate requests and a real certificate authority. Choosing the right issuer determines whether certs are public-trusted or internal.
Related guides
What Is an ACME Challenge?An ACME challenge is the proof step where a certificate authority verifies you control a domain before issuin…
What Is a Wildcard Certificate?A wildcard certificate secures all direct subdomains of a domain with one certificate, such as covering any h…
What Is Certificate Renewal?Certificate renewal is replacing a TLS certificate before it expires, ideally automatically, so services keep…