Using SSL, an administrator wishes to secure public facing server farms in three subdomains: dc1.east.company.com, dc2.central.company.com, and dc3.west.company.com. Which of the following is the number of wildcard SSL certificates that should be purchased?

Using SSL, an administrator wishes to secure public facing server farms in three subdomains: dc1.east.company.com, dc2.central.company.com, and dc3.west.company.com. Which of the following is the number of wildcard SSL certificates that should be purchased?
A . 0
B . 1
C . 3
D . 6

View Answer

Answer: C

Explanation:

You would need three wildcard certificates:

*. east.company.com

*. central.company.com

*. west.company.com

The common domain in each of the domains is company.com. However, a wildcard covers only one level of subdomain. For example: *. company.com will cover "<anything>.company.com" but it won’t cover "<anything>.<anything>.company.com".

You can only have one wildcard in a domain. For example: * .company.com. You cannot have * .*.company.com. Only the leftmost wild card (*) is counted.

Incorrect Answers:

A: You cannot secure public facing server farms without any SSL certificates.

B: You need three wildcard certificates, not one. A wildcard covers only one level of subdomain.

D: You do not need six wildcard certificates to secure three domains.

References:

https://uk.godaddy.com/help/what-is-a-wildcard-ssl-certificate-567