SSLMate 1.4.0 was released today, with support for buying, importing, and managing multi-domain certificates. Multi-domain certificates allow a single certificate to work with up to 100 different hostnames by specifying the hostnames in the certificate's Subject Alternative Name field.

Multi-domain certificates differ from wildcard certificates in that wildcard certificates secure any name directly below a particular domain, whereas multi-domain certificates protect specific single names that may or may not be part of a related domain. Multi-domain certificates are useful if you have several different hostnames from different domains that are hosted on the same server and you desire the convenience of using a single certificate, or you need to support legacy clients that don't support SNI (SNI is a mechanism that allows multiple certificates to co-exist on the same IP address).

One nice feature of multi-domain certificates is that they're very flexible: you can modify the list of hostnames protected by a multi-domain certificate at any time after the certificate is purchased. Replacing an existing name is free, and when you add a new name you pay only for the new name, not for a whole new certificate. Adding or removing a name requires the installation of a new certificate file, which can be completely automated with sslmate download.

Getting a multi-domain certificate is easy: just specify more than one hostname on the command line to sslmate buy. For more details, such as how to add and remove names, check out the documentation.

As with all certificates offered by SSLMate, multi-domain certificates feature the full range of automation and approval options, including DNS-based approval, and if you're using the SSLMate API, HTTP-based approval. The flexibility and automation offered by SSLMate's multi-domain certificates makes them ideal for SaaS services where a dedicated hostname under the customer's domain is provisioned for every customer.

If you've installed SSLMate through APT or Yum, upgrading to 1.4.0 is as simple as running apt-get update && apt-get upgrade or yum update. If you're using Homebrew, an updated formula should be available in the near future. Otherwise, head over to our install page or our GitHub repository to download and install the new version.