If you’ve done some SSL certificate research, you would notice that SSL providers only allow one domain to use one SSL certificate. This means that an SSL certificate for example dot com will not work with mail.example dot com or anothername dot com.

Need SSL on multiple subdomains? Wildcard SSL is your best option. This solution isn’t enough for those who need SSL on multiple domains. What about them? The best possible solution is Unified Communications Certificate (UCC) SSL.

Wildcard and UCC SSL? What’s the difference?

A single wildcard SSL certificate can be used on multiple subdomains by supplying a Common Name with with a wildcard. For instance, the Common Name *.example dot com permits you work with one wildcard certificate for content.example dot com, buy.example dot com, or secure.example dot com, but not on example.net, anothername dot com, or secure.anothername dot com.

The great news is that UCC SSL will work just fine in the last example. The certificate’s Subject Alternative Name (SAN) is used by UCC SSL instead of the Common Name field. The SAN lets you add more domains that will use one UCC SSL certificate. Just one UCC SSL certificate will be sufficient for example dot com, secure.example dot com, anothername dot com, anothername.net, and onemore dot com. Certificate providers will let you add a limited number of domains or subdomains. The specific number depends on your UCC SSL package deal.

UCC SSL: Laying Down the Benefits

If you want to save money on several domains, UCC SSL certificates are for you. At $150 each, a typical SSL certificate should be fine for those who only need it for a few domains, but costs will bloat to $750 in the event that you need SSL for five domains. With UCC SSL certificates at $300 each, you’re already saving a lot of money with at least 3 domains with SSL.

You can add more domains at $40 for each additional domain. It’s good to know that as a bonus, some UCC SSL providers will let you add a few subdomains on the certificate at no charge.

UCC SSL is popular for another reason – manageability. Most people will cringe at the thought of having to purchase, set up, and then renew annually several SSL certificates. Errors can easily happen when one person manages several SSL certificates all at once. It’s a very difficult task. Fixing those errors will cost you money. Compare that to having to worry about just one wildcard SSL certificate. A single certificate is much easier to manage than a dozen. Errors are easily minimized.

UCC SSL is completely compatilble with Extended Verification (EV) guidelines. Customers and other visitors of your website will see their browser’s address bar turn green. This is beneficial to you because this increases the confidence of your customers when they visit your website.

UCC SSL drawbacks

UCC SSL certificates aren’t perfect, though. There are some drawbacks. Security is the first that comes to mind. By using one UCC SSL certificate, all servers hosting all domains share the same private decryption key. If a hacker manages to get access to the decrypiton key, the hacker also gets the ability to crack all encryptions made by each other server

Let’s say the UCC SSL certificate is revoked. All domains that use the same certificate won’t be able to properly function. You will have to close down the website while fixing the UCC certificate or getting new SSL certificates for every domain that needs SSL.

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