SSL/TLS Certificate Types and Purposes
There are several types of SSL certificates that we can issue using the InCommon certificate service. A brief description of the types of SSL certificates offered, their typical purpose, and limitations follows:
|
Certificate Type |
Description and Purpose |
Available Validity |
Typical Processing Time |
|
Single domain (Incommon SSL Certificate) |
An SSL certificate protects a single domain e.g. my.wisc.edu. These are the "traditional" SSL certificates that have been in use since the advent of the SSL protocol. |
1 year |
5 minutes |
|
Multiple domain (Incommon Multi-domain SSL certificate) |
A multiple domain certificate allows you protect multiple host names with a single SSL certificate. These are also known as SAN (Subject Alternative Name) certificates. Up to 100 domain names can be included in a multi-domain certificate. However, if applying for a certificate with more than 20 SANs, please contact servercertificates@doit.wisc.edu so that we can assist you in this request. |
1 year |
5 minutes |
|
Wildcard (Incommon wildcard SSL certificate) |
A wildcard certificate protects a domain and unlimited subdomains of that domain e.g *.bus.wisc.edu secures my.bus.wisc.edu, www.bus.wisc.edu, etc. Because of the increased risk of using wildcard certificates, we require an the requestor agree to certain terms of service and suggest using multi-domain certificates rather than wildcard certificates when possible. |
1 year |
5 minutes |
| IGTF | Certain academic grid computing requires these Interoperable Global Trust Federation certificates. https://www.igtf.net/ |
1 year | 5 minutes |
| Code Signing | In rare instances, certain types of desktop software may benefit from having signed code. https://sectigo.com/uploads/files/Code-Signing-Certificate-End-User-Guide.pdf | 3 years | 2-3 Business days |