SSL setup: UCC or wildcard certificates?

Question

I've scoured the web for a clear and concise answer to my SSL question, but to no avail. So here goes:

I have a web-service requiring SSL support for authentication pages. The root-level domain does not have the "www" - i.e., secure://domain.com - but localized pages use "language-code.domain.com", i.e. secure://ja.domain.com

So I need at least a wildcard SSL certificate that supports secure://*.domain.com

However, we also have a public sandbox environment at sandbox.domain.com, which we also need to support under localized domains - so secure://ja.sandbox.domain.com needs to also work.

The previous admin managed to purchase a wildcard SSL certificate for .domain.com, but with a Subject Alternative Name for "domain.com". So, I'm thinking of trying to get a wildcard certificate with SANs defined as "domain.com" and ".*.domain.com".

But now I'm getting confused because there seem to be separate SAN certificates, also called UCC certificates.

Can someone clarify whether it's possible to get a wildcard certificate with additional SAN fields, and ultimately what the best way is to support:

secure://domain.com secure://.domain.com secure://.*.domain.com

with the fewest (and cheapest!) number of SSL certificates?

Thanks!

Solution 1

First, SAN certificate = UCC certificates. They are both just certificates with the SubjectAltName field.

Second, a wildcard of ..domain.com won't work in most browsers. You will either need to get two wildcard certificates (one for *.sandbox.domain.com and one for *.domain.com) or get a wildcard certificate for *.domain.com and have your SSL provider put a specific SubjectAltName of ja.sandbox.domain.com. I think DigiCert and GlobalSign offer this.

Solution 2

According to http://ssl.com it is definitely technically possible to combine UCC and wildcard certificates. Essentially they recommend using a UCC certificate with one Subject Alt Name containing your wildcard: *.domain.com - They do note that you'll need to pay extra to have wildcards in the UCC.

• https://info.ssl.com/faq-can-i-use-wildcard-domains-in-my-ucc-certificate/

To cover unlimited subdomains, just create the wildcard domains (ie *.sitename.com) in the common name field or as a SAN (Subject Alternative Name) when you purchase your UCC... You can even put other wildcards in the SAN fields such as *.sub1.sitename.com

• http://answers.ssl.com/2903/can-use-wildcard-ssl-certificates-with-multi-domain-ucc-certs

Just create the wildcard domains (ie *.sitename.com) in the common name field and/or as a SANS (Subject Alternative Names) when you purchase a UCC (or create one). Most CAs will charge you each wildcard domain as a standard wildcard certificate.

Comodo for example notes when purchasing their UCC certificate that:

Wildcard domains can be added to a UCC for a $399.00 surcharge per domain.

• https://ssl.comodo.com/unified-communications-uc-ssl-certificates.php

Let's Encrypt

From following the http://LetsEncrypt.com discussion boards it seems that this capability may also be included when it's available later in 2015

Comments

[Admin]

Subject Alternative Name

[Jonas]

Thanks Robert - you're absolutely right. I ended up getting two certs - one for the sub-domain, another for the sub-sub domain. I should also note, it seems some SSL providers include the root domain in the SAN as a complement, while others do not (in which case you'd need to register another cert). GoDaddy for example includes "domain.com" in the SAN when buying wildcard cert *.domain.com, but RapidSSL does not.

[Arto Bendiken]

At least since 2013, RapidSSL do include 'domain.com' in the wildcard certificates.