NEWS FLASH Coming: Free SSL Certificates

matthew

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Unless something changed while I wasn't looking (which is highly likely), it used to be that you need a dedicated IP address to run an SSL enabled website. This has implications for shared hosting. Most shared hosts will charge for use of a dedicated IP address, so things won't be completely free for everyone to implement this. Also, let's not forget IPv4 address exhaustion, which will factor into this if suddenly everyone wants an IP. Perhaps it will be a catalyst to accelerate IPv6 take up.

That said, this can only be a good thing, although I find myself suspicious of just how altruistic companies like Cisco really are.
 

synack

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No, it's not an SSL requirement. I have a website running with a CNAME (alias) pointing to a no-ip domain name with a DHCP assigned public address.
My cert is free from startcom (cert.startcom.org) however the browser ubiquity is quite low with free certs from these guys. Since its for personal use, I don't really care much. Install the CA once into your browser, and you are golden.
 

synack

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To be more accurate... SNI eliminates the IP address requirement. see wiki. Some certificates like Extended Verification (EV) certificates do require one. I'm not sure however if that's a technical requirement or a vendor requirement. Most of us probably won't go for EV certs as they are quite expensive and most users don't know what they are or care about them. If you do require one for safer e-commerce validation, you probably have static IPs anyway.
 

matthew

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Very cool. Thanks for the update and wiki link. Looks like this was being developed around the time I last gave a hoot about web servers in any specific kind of way. Lack of support for IE on Win XP will hold SNI back a little for those that want SSL access for all visitors, but as you say, for personal sites it looks like a winner.
 
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Very interesting. I wonder if they will be generating wildcard certs....
I'm guessing since this is a collaboration between large companies that the certs will be in a CA already trusted by browsers, otherwise it won't do much good since modern browsers like to scream about self signed certs. :p
 

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