Usually, an SSL certificate is issued for a single fully qualified domain name (= common name), e.g. ssl.example.com.
It can only be used with this domain name – if used with another domain name an error message will be fetched:
So what if you want to protect more than one single domain name, i.e.:
payment.example.com
contact.example.com
login-secure.example.com
www.example.com
mail.example.com
and maybe others ?
You may order single SSL certificates for every domain name
– OR –
use a wildcard SSL certificate !
Wildcard certificates can be used to secure multiple sub domains on a single domain name – so you only need one SSL certificate for all the above domain names. In the example above you would only need one wildcard SSL certificate for *.example.com.
This saves your time (you will only have to administer one SSL certificate, not multiple with different expiry dates, etc.) and makes it very convenient for the IT admin. Furthermore, it saves you a lot of money as the number of sub-domains is not limited when buying from one of the major brands (Comodo, Thawte, GeoTrust and Symantec).
Is it expansive to buy a wildcard SSL certificate ?
No, not at all if you buy from SSLPOINT !
A wildcard SSL certificate can be as low as US$ 74.95/yr (for a 3 years Comodo Wildcard SSL certificate or 3 years GeoTrust wildcard SSL certificate):
