Applies To: SSL CERTIFICATES

Memset offers two types of SSL certificates available to purchase, these are "Standard" and "Wildcard, both of these are DV (Domain Validated) SSL Certificates".

The difference between these two types is the number of hostnames that they will work for. However, they both offer exactly the same, high level of security.

Standard Certificates

A Standard SSL certificate will only work for a single address. This means that if you order a standard certificate for "store.example.com", it will only work for that exact address and the "www." subdomain

For example; A Standard certificate that is ordered for the domain name "example.com" (without any prefix), will be valid for the domain name and also "www." subdomain i.e.;

example.com
www.example.com
TEXT

However, if a standard certificate is ordered for any other host name such as "mail.example.com", then the certificate will only be valid for that hostname and no other.

It is, therefore, important to get the hostname correct at the time of ordering as changing the hostnames is difficult and time consuming once the certificate has been issued and not always possible.

Wildcard Certificates

A Wildcard SSL certificate will work for any subdomain of a domain name. If you order the certificate for "example.com", it will work for "store.example.com", "www.example.com", "mail.example.com" and so on.

Please note that a Wildcard certificate will only support a first level subdomain i.e. a single word before the domain, and no more. The following is an example of an unsupported hostname;

level1.level2.example.com
TEXT

Wildcard certificates are a cost effective option for large organisations that have many subdomains that all need securing with an SSL Certificate.