# SSL and domain as account key **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 14, 2006, 10:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767 "2006-02-14T10:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/krisleech)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 10:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767/1 "2006-02-14T10:04:44Z")
Say I have an hosted application which allows the user to use their own domain name ([company.com](http://company.com)) to access it, and that application must be accessed over SSL, how do you go about our SSL certificate not being registered to their domain. Sure the connection will be safe but the browser will pop up a warning saying the certificate is invalid for this domain. I dont think this problem occur for sub domains ([company.ourdomain.com](http://company.ourdomain.com)), I think you can register a wildcarded SSL cert which means it would apply to \*.domain.com. This allow you to use the subdomain as the account key over SSL. But what like the first example you want to you the whole domain? Many thanks, Kris. ---
**Author:** ![krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/krisleech)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767/2 "2006-02-14T15:13:10Z")
Hi Kris, On 14 Feb 2006, at 09:04, Kris L. wrote: > ([company.ourdomain.com](http://company.ourdomain.com)), > I think you can register a wildcarded SSL cert which means it would > apply to \*.domain.com. This allow you to use the subdomain as the > account key over SSL. > > But what like the first example you want to you the whole domain? It’s not possible. You need their certificate on your server. There is another implication as well, you can’t use vhosts with SSL certificates. This is because the browser and server negotiate an encrypted connection _before_ the browser tells the server which URL it wants to load. So you can only have one IP per certificate. Could you use \*.yourgenericname.com, e.g. [theircompanyname.yourgenericname.com](http://theircompanyname.yourgenericname.com)? If not, the only way is to get them to give you a certificate pair. Jon ---
**Author:** ![krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/krisleech)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767/3 "2006-02-14T15:13:13Z")
You could setup virtual hosts using IP and then you’ll be able to provide SSL for each of the domains. But instead of having a document root for each they all use the same document root. Essentially it will be multiple virtual ip hosts sharing the same document root. On Tue, February 14, 2006 9:04 am, Kris L. wrote: > But what like the first example you want to you the whole domain? > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – Website: [http://www.mooktakim.com](http://www.mooktakim.com) email: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/krisleech)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767/4 "2006-02-14T15:57:50Z")
On 2/14/06, Theodore M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > How does basecamp handle it? One of the plans offers SSL and it uses > subdomains. Do you think they bought a bundle of certs and just > auto-create it on the fly? Probably with a wildcard certificate. [http://www.google.com/search?q=+wildcard+certificate](http://www.google.com/search?q=+wildcard+certificate) – Jonas Elfström ---
**Author:** ![krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/krisleech)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767/5 "2006-02-14T17:56:06Z")
Thanks for replies. As well as basecamp which uses the wildcard type certs there is shopify, which I dont think is open to the public yet, but it allows you to “bring your own domain”. [http://blog.jadedpixel.com/articles/2006/01/24/how-domains-work-in-shopify](http://blog.jadedpixel.com/articles/2006/01/24/how-domains-work-in-shopify) So I would guess that shopify, which is a hosted commerce application, is not run over SSL or the pages that are SSL are on the same domain. Any ideas? Cheers Kris. ---
**Author:** ![krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@krisleech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/krisleech)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-and-domain-as-account-key/53767/6 "2006-02-14T15:48:27Z")
How does basecamp handle it? One of the plans offers SSL and it uses subdomains. Do you think they bought a bundle of certs and just auto-create it on the fly?