Hi All,
I have a Win7Pro Dev/Test computer that runs from my home office. I am running a small WWWC App on the machine. It is accessed via http://IPAddr:Port/VirtualName/ProcessName.wwt
There is no domain name associated with the IP Address.
Can I use LetsEncrypt to assign an SSL Certificate to this Win7 Pro server in this configuration, or do I need a Domain Name and does the box need to reside at a hosting provider's location? I appreciate any helpful hints.
TIA,
Steve
To use LetsEncrypt you need a domain name. Verfication is by looking up the DNS in a globally accessibly registry that points back to your machine. Also a certificate is signed always specifically to the domain name you are using - so, no it doesn't work without a domain name.
Domain names are cheap and if you don't care that it matches anything you can make up some random name and use that and it'll probably cost you $10 a year to keep it.
+++ Rick ---
Thanks Rick, very interesting.
Now I have a couple more questions:
- Who do you recommend for registering the domain? Register.com, other suggestions?
- Is the Domain tied to the IP, or IP:Port? Two examples:
Can/Should/Must I have a different domain for each port:
https://IPAddr:Port1/WWWCApp1 = https://Domain1.com/WWWCApp1
https://IPAddr:Port2/WWWCApp2 = https://Domain2.com/WWWCApp2
OR
Can/Should/Must I have one Domain with Sub-Domains:
https://IPAddr:Port1/WWWCApp1 = https://Domain.com/SubDomain1/WWWCApp1
https://IPAddr:Port2/WWWCApp2 = https://Domain.com/SubDomain2/WWWCApp2
Thank you sir!
There are tons of providers out there. I use DnsSimple but they are more of a registrar plus DNS managements service. For simple things I use directnic - they are cheap, they're reliable and their DNS management is reasonably easy as well. I've been using them for well over 10 years without issues.
You can find better deals, but some of the outfits come and go.
As to domains and ports and virtuals: You can do any of those things, but I would recommend that you only use top level domains for each application, rather than domain:port or domain\virtual setups. It makes the URLs longer and is easier to find for your customers/users.
For example I use:
- west-wind.com (Main Site)
- support.west-wind.com (this site)
- markdownmonster.west-wind.com
- webconnection.west-wind.com
All of these use a single domain name and multiple DNS A records that point at the server's IP address (they can all be the same server or a different server).
For this to work you need:
- 1 domain name
- one SSL certificate for each site (easy with LetsEncrypt and auto-renews automatically)
- one Web site for each site
As an alternative you can also buy a wildcard domain that automatically lets you secure all domains under a top level domain (ie. west-wind.com and support.west-wind.com). LetsEncrypt also supports this but I haven't used or needed that with it. But you can also purcahse these (they are pricier though! $100-$300 I get my wildcard domains from DnsSimple for $100 for several other commercial sites running on Azure where LetsEncrypt doesn't work).
+++ Rick ---