securityssl

SSL certificate for internal and external usage


Let's suppose I have a web application that is accessed externally via http://webapp.mydomain.com and internally via http://webapp.intranetservername/

Do I need two SSL certificates? Or can the same SSL certificate be used?


Solution

  • You will need two SSL certificates, and the one for the intranet server will have to be self-signed, because certificate authorities are prohibited from signing certificates for internal domains (as there is no way to verify ownership of such a domain).

    It is ordinarily possible to create a single SSL certificate that is valid for multiple domains (by using the Subject Alternate Name extension). However, again, a CA cannot sign one unless they can validate all of the domains it claims to be valid for.