What is a Multi Domain Wildcard SSL Certificate and What Are Its Key Benefits?

3 reasons why a multi domain wildcard is worth every penny. It secures multiple domain names (fully qualified domain names [FQDNs] and subject alternative names [SANs]) and an unlimited number of accompanying subdomains. It offers the combined benefits of a multi domain SSL certificate and a wildcard SSL certificate — but with the ability to secure subdomains on multiple levels instead of just one like a traditional wildcard certificate.  

To put it simply, this type of certificate saves time, money, and labor hours by protecting your entire web presence with a single SSL certificate. A multi domain wildcard SSL certificate is also known as wildcard SAN or SAN wildcard. 

What a Multi Domain Wildcard SSL Certificate Secures 

A multi domain wildcard SSL certificate covers the following areas of your website.  

• Fully Qualified Domain Names 
• Subject Alternative Names 
• Unified Communications 
• Subdomains (Multi-level) 
• Public-Facing IP Addresses 

Benefits of a Multi Domain Wildcard  

Simplified Certificate Management  

Let’s be honest: SSL certificate management is time-consuming, tedious work. When you buy separate single domain SSL certificates for your websites and subdomains, you need to deal with certificate signing request (CSR) generation, validation, and installation process multiple times. It creates a massive operational burden on you and/or your staff.   

With a SAN wildcard, you need to deal with all the SSL enabling processes just once. You can save a substantial amount of time and energy on the certificate management process and concentrate on more important tasks.   

Low Risk of Renewal Omission  

Renewing your SSL certificate before it expires is crucial. If you don’t, two big disasters happen:  

1) Your website will instantly become insecure and vulnerable to cyberattacks. 

2) Browsers will show a security warning page with a “SEC_ERROR_EXPIRED_CERTIFICATE” error message whenever someone tries to visit your site. 

When you have multiple SSL certificates, you have to keep a tight watch on each certificate’s expiry date and go through the renewal process separately for each one.  

With a multi domain wildcard, on the other hand, you need to remember only one renewal date, which is not that difficult task. Plus, you only need to go through the renewal process for just one certificate instead of multiple. That’s how you can substantially reduce the risk of renewal lapse.   

If you’re thinking that remembering an expiry date is really a petty issue, let us tell you that big organizations like Ericsson, Equifax, LinkedIn, Cisco, and even US government have forgotten to renew their security certificates in the past, which hampered the websites’ operations and negatively affected their reputation. 

Money-Saving Solution 

If you buy separate SSL certificates for all of your various domains and their subdomains, it’s going to cost you a leg and an arm. A multi domain wildcard will save your money up to a great extent.  

For example,  

Suppose you want to secure three different domain names and their subdomains. You have chosen Thawte as your CA. 

Let’s rule out a single-domain SSL and multidomain SSL certificate from the options as you need to buy a separate certificate for each subdomain. That’s not any sane person will do. Now, let’s compare our remaining two rational options i.e., a wildcard and Multi domain wildcard 

*For a multi domain wildcard certificate, consider listing blog.mysite.com as separate SAN to cover its subdomains subscribe.blog.mysite.com, author.blog.mysite.com, etc. For a wildcard SSL certificate, buy a new wildcard certificate for *.blog.mysite.com to include its subdomains.  

Let’s Compare Multi Domain Wildcard SSL Certificates.