Wildcard SSL Certificates: What Is It?

Wildcard SSL Certificate helps enable securing multiple sub-domains – hosted on multiple servers or single server – using a single certificate over as long as all the sub domains share the same second-level domain name.

There are two types of wildcard certificates.

1. Domain Validation –

These are instant issued and do not require any type of documents for validation process. This requires only email or phone validation and takes few minutes only.

Ex.

• RapidSSL Wildcard Certificate

2. Business Validation –

These are required to authenticate business or organization information and domain ownership of applicant. Customers required submitting business and domain ownership proof. Advantage of this type is it shows customers company name in ssl information.

Ex.

• Geotrust True Business ID Wildcard SSL
• Thawte Web Server Wildcard SSL

Wildcard certificates are issued for sub domains like (*.domainname.com). Any wildcard certificate can include single * in single certificate. There is no wildcard ssl for multiple * in single certificate. So if you have multi level sub domains wildcard ssl requirement then you should buy new certificate for each level.

Wildcard certificates issued for *.domainname.com secure sub domains, base domain and www name.

Example: Wildcard ssl certificate issued for *.wildcardsslcertificate.com can secure the below names in single certificate.

• wildcardsslcertificate.com
• www.wildcardsslcertificate.com
• alpha.wildcardsslcertificate.com
• clients.wildcardsslcertificate.com
• 123. wildcardsslcertificate.com

Wildcard SSL compatibility:

All wildcard ssl certificates support 1024 and 2048 bit csr keys and 128 to 256 bit SSL encryption.

Server OS support:

Wildcard SSL certificates support most OS, Web Servers, Application Server, mail server, etc. Support with Microsoft IIS 5/6/7, Apache Server, Windows SBS Server, Solaris, UNIX, Novell, etc.

Browser Support:

All browsers are supported like, Internet Explore (from version 5 to 9), Firefox ver. 1+, Opera, Safari, etc.

Recommended products:

• RapidSSL Wildcard – Instant issued and lowest price
• GeoTrust True Business ID Wildcard
• Thawte WebServer Wildcard Certificate

Advantages of SSL Wildcard Certificates

• Protect Unlimited Sub-Domains. Where you would commonly have to purchase a Single SSL Certificate for each sub domain, you can just purchase and use one certificate.
• Cheaper. Though they price more than a single certificate, they can without difficulty buy for themselves if you apply them on more than a couple of sub domains. Some certificate providers still provide an unlimited server license so you only pay money for one wildcard certificate for as many web servers as essential.
• Easier to run. Deploying 30 distinct one-by-one SSL certificates can be a scary project, even with a PKI administration interface. And thereafter you have to do it all across again, as shortly as it comes time to renew them. A wildcard certificate earns rapid profession of a lot situation.