why am I using rancher server again? [rhetorical frustrated question] chicken and egg problems. By the time I figure out how to properly change the server-url and ensure cert-manager is the correct version to allow letsencrypt instead of a self signed certificate I might as well using the Lens IDE, which I'm using to 'fix' rancher, so I can deploy clusters.

this sounds like a documentation issue - please let us know if you have feedback on how we could clarify the docs.