Wildcard SSL certificates explained

What is a wildcard certificate?

An SSL certificate locks the connection between a visitor and your site. A normal one covers one name only. A wildcard certificate covers many names at once. It is written with a star, like *.example.com.

A subdomain is a front part added to your domain, such as blog.example.com or shop.example.com. The star stands for any one of them.

Why is it useful?

• You buy and manage one certificate, not many.
• New subdomains are covered at once.
• It can save time and money if you have many subdomains.

One limit: it covers one level only. *.example.com covers blog.example.com but not a.blog.example.com.

What you need first

• A domain name that you own.
• Access to the domain's email or DNS settings. DNS is the phone book of the internet. It turns a name into a number.
• A CSR. This is a Certificate Signing Request, a block of text that you create on your server and send to the certificate seller.
• A wildcard certificate order from a seller. Ask Hostvento support whether they offer one.

Steps to get one

1. Log in to cPanel and open SSL/TLS.
2. Click Certificate Signing Requests (CSR).
3. In the Domains box, type *.example.com. Use your own domain.
4. Fill in the other boxes, such as country and email.
5. Click Generate. Copy the CSR text.
6. Order the wildcard certificate from your seller and paste the CSR when asked.
7. Prove you own the domain. The seller will ask you to use email, a DNS record, or a file. Wildcard certificates usually need the DNS or email method.
8. Wait for the seller to issue the certificate. Download it.
9. In cPanel, go to SSL/TLS, then Manage SSL sites, and install the certificate.

   

Quick recap

• A wildcard certificate covers a domain and all its first-level subdomains.

  

• It is written as *.example.com.
• Create a CSR with the star name, order, prove ownership, then install.
• It does not cover deeper levels.