According to the WWW standards although any website is deployed with the “non-www domain” it will deploy smoothly as well with a “www domain”. WWW is a DNS naming structure; actually “www domain” should not be counted as the sub domain of a “non-www domain” instead it is an alias for the non www domain.
SSL is encryption-based protocol. It will secure that domain only for which it has been issued. Hence, if the SSL certificate is issued for a non www domain, then it will secure that domain only.
However, there are some ways for protecting both the domains with a single SSL certificate and they are:
Purchasing An SSL Certificate From Those Brands Who Gives Such Facility:
SSL Brands like Comodo, RapidSSL, GeoTrust, Thawte and Symantec provides the advance feature of securing the WWW domain name and non-WWW domain name by single certificate. Within such process when the certificate is issued, generate the CSR (code signing request) key for the www domain and in turn it will secure a non www domain. For example, if the CSR is generated for www.mydomain.com then it will also work in hand for mydomain.com. The browser will show the “https” before the both addresses. Checkout these brand’s standard SSL certificates from here:
| Products | Validation | Issuance | Offer Price | CA Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comodo Positive SSL | Domain | 10 Minutes | $13.50 /yr. | $49.00 /yr. |
| RapidSSL Certificate | Domain | 10 Minutes | $12.56/yr. | $43.00/yr. |
| Thawte SSL123 | Domain | 10 Minutes | $31.05/yr. | $129.50/yr. |
| GeoTrust QuickSSL Premium | Domain | 10 Minutes | $61.20/yr. | $130.50/yr. |
| Symantec Secure Site | Domain & Basic Organization | 1-3 Days | $251.10/yr. | $347.50/yr. |
Redirecting The Non WWW Domain To The WWW Domain:
If you have already purchased an SSL certificate from other brand, then this alternative way is free of cost as it can be achieved at development level. For this you need to use “301” redirection. “301” is the HTTP response status code for redirecting permanently to another URL location. Suppose you type abc.com then it should be redirected to www.abc.com. You can then acquire an SSL certificate for WWW domain.
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Installing Wildcard SSL Certificate:
Wildcard SSL certificate provides security to unlimited sub domains if purchased for a single domain. If you purchase a Wildcard SSL certificate for yourdomain.com, your www.yourdomain.com will be secured along with every other sub domains of your site.
The redirection option is not that convenient because it requires a thorough change in the coding of the website. Whereas purchasing the Wildcard certificate is the costliest choice.
As far as the relevancy and budget are concerned for purchasing a standard SSL certificate, RapidSSL Certificate and Geotrust QuickSSL Premium are the best recommended.
