Just in case anyone was (like me) wondering how a wildcard certificate would 
work with multiple levels of subdomains, it turns out that EZproxy has custom 
support for SSL built-in and automatically converts 
example.org.ezproxy.example.org to use hyphens in the subdomains: 
example-org.ezproxy.example.org

Citing an online discussion:

> > One post I read suggested that wildcard certificates were only good for one 
> > domain level, here's an excerpt: 
> >
> > "Example, if the cert is for *.domain.com then a.domain.com and 
> > b.domain.com hosts can use the same cert. but for hosts that have more than 
> > one level of subdomain like c.d.domain.com, the cert. will not work and you 
> > will get the popup warning" 
> >
> > Is this comment accurate?
>
> That comment is true. For this reason, when you use a wildcard certificate on 
> a server named ezproxy.yourlib.org, the wildcard certificate is for 
> *.ezproxy.yourlib.org, EZproxy calls itself login.ezproxy.yourlib.org during 
> secure login, and when you proxy a remote site, the periods of the hostname 
> are changed to hyphens (e.g. www-somedb-com.ezproxy.yourlib.org). This avoids 
> the browser warnings. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 14, 2016, at 10:17 PM, Andrew Anderson <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Eric,
> 
> Check out Startcom’s StartSSL service (https://www.startssl.com), for $120 
> you have the ability to generate 3-year wildcard certificates with their 
> Organizational Validation level of service.
> 
> Andrew
> 
> -- 
> Andrew Anderson, President & CEO, Library and Information Resources Network, 
> Inc.
> http://www.lirn.net/ | http://www.twitter.com/LIRNnotes | 
> http://www.facebook.com/LIRNnotes
> 
>> On Jan 14, 2016, at 21:33, Eric Hellman <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>> I would also go with the $120 3 year wildcard cert for ezproxy. What vendor 
>> are you using?
>>> On Jan 14, 2016, at 7:23 PM, Cary Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I love the idea of Let’s Encrypt, but I recently bought a three year 
>>> wildcard cert subscription for about $120. I would need to fall firmly into 
>>> the true believer category to go the route you suggest.
>>> 
>>> Cary
>>> 
>>>> On Jan 14, 2016, at 11:20 AM, Eric Hellman <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> A while back, the issue of needing a wildcard certificate (not supported 
>>>> by Lets Encrypt) for EZProxy was discussed.
>>>> 
>>>> In my discussions with publishers about switching to HTTPS, EZProxy 
>>>> compatibility has been the most frequently mentioned stumbling block 
>>>> preventing a complete switch to HTTPS for some HTTPS-ready  publishers. In 
>>>> two cases that I know of, a publisher which has been HTTPS-only was asked 
>>>> by a library customer to provide insecure service (oh the horror!) for 
>>>> this reason.
>>>> 
>>>> It's been pointed out to me that while Lets Encrypt is not supporting 
>>>> wildcard certificates, up to 100 hostnames can be supported on a single LE 
>>>> certificate. A further limit on certificates issued per week per domain 
>>>> would mean that up to 500 hostnames can be registered with LE in a week.
>>>> 
>>>> Are there EZProxy instances out there that need more than 500 hostnames, 
>>>> assuming that all services are switched to HTTPS?
>>>> 
>>>> Also, I blogged my experience talking to people about privacy at #ALAMW16.
>>>> http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2016/01/not-using-https-on-your-website-is-like.html
>>>>  
>>>> <http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2016/01/not-using-https-on-your-website-is-like.html>
>>>> 
>>>> Eric
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Eric Hellman
>>>> President, Free Ebook Foundation
>>>> Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
>>>> https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
>>>> twitter: @gluejar
>> 

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