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What Are the Differences Between a Single-Domain Name, Multi-Domain Name, and Wildcard-Domain Name in SCM?

In SCM, options for Domain Type can be Single domain, Multiple domains, or Wildcard.

Table 1 Domain Type

Parameter

Description

Single domain

Only one common domain name can be associated.

If you have only one domain name, select Single domain.

Multiple domains
  • Multiple domains can be added to a certificate. Multiple single domains can be set for domains. For example, you can use one multi-domain certificate to protect domains example.com, example.cn, and test.com.

    If the Certificate Type is set to OV or OV Pro, multiple single domains and multiple wildcard (*) domains can be added to one certificate. For example, if you purchase a multi-domain certificate (the number of domain names is three), you can use the certificate to protect domains *.example.com, example.cn, and test.com.

  • You need to configure the domain quantity based on the number of domains you need to protect with a single multi-domain certificate.
  • Different promotion activities are offered by CAs for subdomain names, or www domain names. For details, see Which Certificate Authorities Are Available?. The following uses subdomain name www.a.com and root domain name a.com as an example to show the differences.
    • For DigiCert and GeoTrust certificates, you can purchase a certificate for either the root domain or the subdomain to protect both domains at the same time. For example, if you plan to purchase a multi-domain certificate issued by DigiCert or GeoTrust and expect to use this certificate to protect www.a.com and a.com, just bind www.a.com or a.com to the certificate.
    • For GlobalSign certificates, you can purchase a certificate for the subdomain and use the certificate to protect the corresponding root domain at the same time. However, a certificate for a root domain cannot protect the corresponding subdomain. For example, if you plan to purchase a multi-domain certificate issued by GlobalSign and expect to use the certificate to protect both www.a.com and a.com, just bind domain www.a.com to the certificate.
  • The number of domain names ranges from 2 to 250. A maximum of 250 domain names can be protected with a certificate.

    The following conditions must be met:

    • The number of primary domains is fixed at 1.
    • The number of additional single domain names cannot be smaller than 1. If you select an OV or OV Pro certificate, the number of additional single domain names plus the number of additional wildcard domain names must be greater than or equal to 1.

If you have multiple domain names, select Multiple domains. Purchase domain names of the required quantity on the purchase page.

Wildcard domain
  • Only one wildcard domain name can be associated.
  • A wildcard domain name is the one that starts with a wildcard (*), for example, *.huaweicloud.com or *.example.huaweicloud.com.
  • Only the same-level domain matching is supported. For example, a certificate associated with *.huaweicloud.com can protect p1.huaweicloud.com but not p2.p1.huaweicloud.com. If you need to protect p2.p1.huaweicloud.com, purchase a wildcard-domain certificate associated with *.p1.huaweicloud.com. For details about more level matching rules, see Table 2.

If all of your domain names are at the same level, select Wildcard.

Before you purchase a wildcard-domain certificate, pay attention to the domain name matching rules. Table 2 are some examples.

Table 2 Examples of wildcard-domain matching rules

Domain name

Matched Domain Name

Unmatched Domain Name

*.huaweicloud.com

test.huaweicloud.com, yun.huaweicloud.com, example.huaweicloud.com, and other domain names

abc.test.huaweicloud.com, yun.test.huaweicloud.com, example.test.huaweicloud.com, and other domain names

*.test.huaweicloud.com

abc.test.huaweicloud.com, yun.test.huaweicloud.com, example.test.huaweicloud.com, and other domain names

abc.huaweicloud.com, yun.huaweicloud.com, example.huaweicloud.com, and other domain names
  • For wildcard-domain certificates, only those associated with root domain names support the domain names. For example:
    • A certificate associated with the wildcard domain *.huaweicloud.com (a root domain) protects huaweicloud.com and other domain names of the same level. No additional certificate needs to be purchased for this.
    • A certificate associated with the wildcard domain *.p1.huaweicloud.com (not a root domain) will not protect p1.huaweicloud.com (a different level domain). It can only protect domain names of the same level. To protect p1.huaweicloud.com, you would need to purchase a new certificate.
  • If the www subdomain is associated with a certificate, the certificate also protects the root domain. For example:

    A certificate purchased for domain www.huaweicloud.com can also protect huaweicloud.com. There is no need to purchase another certificate.

  • Once your digital certificate is issued, the associated domain cannot be changed.

Table 3 is given here for your reference.

Table 3 Domain type selection examples

Example Scenario

Example Domain Name

Domain Type Selection

Quantity Selected

You have only one domain.

huaweicloud.com

Single domain

Single-domain type. The value of Quantity is fixed at 1.

test.huaweicloud.com

Single domain

p1.test.huaweicloud.com

Single domain

You have multiple domains.

Two domains

huaweicloud.com and p1.huawei.com

Multiple domains

2

Three domains

huaweicloud.com, p1.huawei.com, and p1.test.huaweicloud.cn

Multiple domains

3

Four domains

huaweicloud.com, test.huaweicloud.cn, p1.test.huaweicloud.cn, and p1.test.yun.huaweicloud.com

Multiple domains

4

You have multiple domains at the same level.

test.huaweicloud.com, yun.huaweicloud.com, example.huaweicloud.com, and other domain names are the same level and are part of *.huaweicloud.com.

Wildcard domain

Wildcard domain type. The value of Quantity is fixed at 1.
Parent topic: Domain Name Filling