Wildcard ssl request allow you to secure multiple subdomains with one ssl certificate. This can reduce cost and reduce time to implement unique sub domains in your organization. For instance you can install one ssl certificate and use 1 Ip address for both example.simplespider.com and test.simplespider.com. Several certificate authorities sell wilcard certificates at different price ranges. “Thawte” currently sells wilcard ssl certificates for about $500.00 per year plus a fee for the number of servers. Commodo sells wildcard certs for a little less and allows for unlimited servers to be used,
To generate a wildcard certificate follow the same steps as a regular certificate but do not fully qualify the domain.
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes –keyout simplespider.com.key –out simplespider.com.csr
Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
.....................................................+++
..............................................................................................................+++
writing new private key to 'simplespider.com.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [GB]:US
State or Province Name (full name) [Berkshire]:Florida
Locality Name (eg, city) [Newbury]: Ormond Beach
Organization Name (eg, company) [My Company Ltd]: Simple Spider
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []: R-D
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []:*.simplespider.com
Email Address []:
Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:
An optional company name []:
