Sectigo SSL UCC BV

What are Multi-Year SSL Subscription Plans?

Starting with August 19th, 2020, the maximum duration of publicly-trusted SSL/TLS certificates issued by all Certificate Authorities (CAs) has been set to a maximum of 13 months.

However, in order to make your SSL Management process time-saving and cost-effective, the CAs and SSL Dragon are offering you the 2 Year and 3 Year SSL Subscription Plans.

This means that you can still buy a 2 or 3 year SSL Certificate and continue to benefit from multi-year discounting, while still remaining compliant with the CAB Forum SSL requirements.

How the Multi-Year SSL works?

Due to security reasons, your SSL certificate is initially issued with a maximum 1-year validity.

30 days before the expiration of your certificate, SSL Dragon, on behalf of the CA, will notify you and ask you to reissue your SSL, in order to get the additional (replacement) 1-year certificate, according to your Subscription Plan.

This FAQ explains to you how to reissue your SSL Certificate, step by step.

You will need to validate & install the replacement SSL:

a. If you have a Domain Validation SSL Certificate, a short verification of your domain name will be required via Email, HTTP, or DNS in order to issue the 1-yr replacement SSL.

b. If you have a Business or Extended SSL Certificate – an additional Business Validation/Extended Validation recheck and callback process will also be required.

You can still reissue your certificate at any time and as many times as you like during your Multi-Year SSL Subscription Plan.

On your SSL Certificate’s page within the SSL Dragon account, you will find all the details regarding your Subscription Plan:

• Valid From – Shows the date when your SSL was issued and became active
• Expires – Shows the date when your SSL expires and needs to be reissued (not Renewed).
• Subscription Starts – The date when the first SSL was issued and the subscription period activated
• Subscription Ends – The date when the subscription ends and SSL needs to be Renewed (not Reissued)
• Next Reissue – shows the number of days left of your SSL. The Certificate should be reissued 30-days prior to this date.

The Business Validation (BV), also called Organization Validation (OV), SSL certificate is recommended if you have an e-commerce website that is a registered business. Besides the domain validation performed through e-mail, you will have to provide company documentation to receive business authentication. During this authentication process, the Certificate Authority (CA) will verify if your business is carried out by a legitimate, good faith company operating at the provided location. Since the validation is done manually and involves paperwork, you will receive your Business Validation SSL certificate within 1-3 business days.

After receiving Business Validation, the “https” and padlock icon will be displayed on your website’s address bar. These signs will make customers more willing to entrust you with their personal and financial information. Yet, if your website’s purpose is to perform large sales, offer specific products/services or execute financial transactions, you should consider buying our Extended Validation (EV) certificate.

You can check if you have a Business Validation SSL Certificate by looking at the attributes of your SSL Certificate. Please open the two screenshots on the right in order to see where you can find the information about the validation type of your SSL Certificate.

Different SSL Certificate brands have different Business Validation procedures. Please read the section that applies to your SSL Certificate brand below.

DigiCert (including Thawte & GeoTrust)

If you bought a Business Validation SSL Certificate with Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert, then the certificate authority will work on validating the legal existence of your organization via local public databases, as a part of the Business Validation process. This may take between 1-3 working days. Please wait until one of the certificate authority representatives contacts you about any additional information that they may need you to provide them.

If you do not hear from the Certificate Authority representatives in the next 5-7 days, then please call +1 (520) 477-3152 (Ext 2) to check the status of your SSL Certificate with the Certificate Authority. Please note that Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert are all owned by DigiCert, and they all have the same phone number provided above.  When you talk to them, you will need to provide the “Partner Order ID”, which you can find on the details page of your SSL Certificate inside your SSL Dragon account. See the screenshot on the right.

Sectigo/GoGetSSL

Please send the necessary forms described below to Sectigo by opening a ticket with Sectigo Validation Center at https://sectigo.com/support. Click on “Submit a ticket”, select Validation Department, and submit your request. Please mention your “Partner Order ID” in your message.

You can find your “Partner Order ID” on the details page of your SSL Certificate inside your SSL Dragon account. See the screenshot on the right.

I. New Orders

STEP 1: Business Validation
To pass Business validation, you may have to provide an official registration document, such as Business License, Article of Incorporation, and or Registration application.
Here are the BV options:

A. No paperwork. Your company’s legal existence will be checked via public government database using your company name and your unique Registration/Identification number OR via verified public 3rd party databases, such as GLEIF, Duns & Bradstreet, Hoovers, Companies House GOV.UK.

B. Paperwork. Your company will be verified using:

• an official registration document, such as Articles of Incorporation, Government Issued Business License, or
• a copy of a recent: company bank statement, company phone bill, or major company utility bill  (i.e. power bill, water bill, etc.).

STEP 2: Callback process
The last step is a callback process called Phone Validation. Sectigo will call you and asks to confirm your name and order to validate the official company’s phone number.
Below are the 4 callback options. You don’t have to do all four things from below. Doing just one of them will be enough.

– Sample Accountant Letter
– Sample Legal Opinion Letter

II. Renewal/Reissue Orders
For reissues and renewal order, instead of Step 1 and 2, you must contact Sectigo Validation Center at https://sectigo.com/support. Click on “Submit a ticket”, or choose Live Chat, select Validation Department and submit the following request (please replace [] fields with the corresponding info):

Reason for the ticket: Validation
Order number: [Your Partner Order ID]
Subject: Business Validation 

Dear Sectigo!
Please validate order [Partner Order ID] using the company name [Your Company Name], with [Registration/ID number] and [DUNS number].

Sectigo will then contact you for Step 2 or any necessary updates to the Step 1.

You can check if you have an Organization Validation SSL Certificate by looking at the attributes of your SSL Certificate. Business Validation equals to Organization Validation. This being said, wherever you see “Business Validation” it also means “Organization Validation”. Please open the two screenshots on the right in order to see where you can find the information about the validation type of your SSL Certificate.

Different SSL Certificate brands have different Organization Validation procedures. Please read the section that applies to your SSL Certificate brand below.

DigiCert (including Thawte & GeoTrust)

If you bought an Organization Validation SSL Certificate with Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert, then the certificate authority will work on validating the legal existence of your organization via local public databases, as a part of the Organization Validation process. This may take between 1-3 working days. Please wait until one of the certificate authority representatives contacts you about any additional information that they may need you to provide them.

If you do not hear from the Certificate Authority representatives in the next 5-7 days, then please call +1 (520) 477-3152 (Ext 2) to check the status of your SSL Certificate with the Certificate Authority. Please note that Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert are all owned by DigiCert, and they all have the same phone number provided above.  When you talk to them, you will need to provide the “Partner Order ID”, which you can find on the details page of your SSL Certificate inside your SSL Dragon account. See the screenshot on the right.

Sectigo/GoGetSSL

Please send the necessary forms described below to Sectigo by opening a ticket with Sectigo Validation Center at https://sectigo.com/support. Click on “Submit a ticket”, select Validation Department, and submit your request. Please mention your “Partner Order ID” in your message.

You can find your “Partner Order ID” on the details page of your SSL Certificate inside your SSL Dragon account. See the screenshot on the right.

I. New Orders

STEP 1: Organization Validation
To pass Organization validation, you may have to provide an official registration document, such as Business License, Article of Incorporation, and or Registration application.
Here are the BV options:

A. No paperwork. Your company’s legal existence will be checked via public government database using your company name and your unique Registration/Identification number OR via verified public 3rd party databases, such as GLEIF, Duns & Bradstreet, Hoovers, Companies House GOV.UK.

B. Paperwork. Your company will be verified using:

• an official registration document, such as Articles of Incorporation, Government Issued Business License, or
• a copy of a recent: company bank statement, company phone bill, or major company utility bill  (i.e. power bill, water bill, etc.).

STEP 2: Callback process
The last step is a callback process called Phone Validation. Sectigo will call you and asks to confirm your name and order to validate the official company’s phone number.
Below are the 4 callback options. You don’t have to do all four things from below. Doing just one of them will be enough.

– Sample Accountant Letter
– Sample Legal Opinion Letter

II. Renewal/Reissue Orders
For reissues and renewal order, instead of Step 1 and 2, you must contact Sectigo Validation Center at https://sectigo.com/support. Click on “Submit a ticket”, or choose Live Chat, select Validation Department and submit the following request (please replace [] fields with the corresponding info):

Reason for the ticket: Validation
Order number: [Your Partner Order ID]
Subject: Organization Validation 

Dear Sectigo!
Please validate order [Partner Order ID] using the company name [Your Company Name], with [Registration/ID number] and [DUNS number].

Sectigo will then contact you for Step 2 or any necessary updates to the Step 1.

The Subject Alternative Name (SAN) SSL certificate, also called the Unified Communication Certificate (UCC) or the Multi-Domain SSL certificate was particularly developed to secure all your domains and subdomains by owning one single SSL certificate. This type of certificate ensures the security for both, your internal and external domains/subdomains and is fully compatible with your Microsoft Exchange products and Microsoft Office Communications Server.

UCC/SAN SSL certificates are not just easy to be managed but are the most cost-effective option. These certificates give you the opportunity to secure your main domain, for example, ssldragon.com, together with many other totally distinct domains, like ssldragon.net, ssldragonsslcertificates.com and its subdomains mail.ssldragon.com and account.ssldragon.com – all with 1 single certificate. Besides, unlike Wildcard SSL certificates, UCC/SAN certificates are available in all three validation methods: Domain Validation (DV), Business Validation (BV) and Extended Validation (EV).

You can find our full list of Multi Domain (UCC/SAN) SSL Certificates at this link.

A Multi-Domain (SAN) SSL Certificate is specifically created to allow users to secure multiple domains and/or multiple sub-domains with one single SSL Certificate. Depending on the SSL Certificate product and brand, the certificate will include a different number of additional domains (called SANs) at the price quoted on the SSL Certificate’s details page (see screenshot on the right).

For example, a Multi-Domain (SAN) SSL Certificate that has 4 domains by default allows you to secure:

• Four different domains:
  1. mysite.com
  2. example.com
  3. abcxyz.com
  4. demo123.com

• Four different subdomains:
  1. my.example.com
  2. mail.example.com
  3. test.mysite.com
  4. account.mysite.com

• Four different domains and subdomains:
  1. example.com
  2. my.example.com
  3. abcxyz.com
  4. mail.demo123.com

NOTE: Here is how you should configure your Multi-Domain SSL Certificate on our website: When you generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request), please include one single domain name or sub-domain in it, such as: www.example.com. The rest of the domains or sub-domains, which are called SANs (2nd, 3rd, 4th domains or sub-domains) should be included in the fields for additional domains. You will see the fields for additional domains on the SSL Certificate configuration form, right under the text area for the CSR (see screenshot on the right).

When you buy or configure your Multi-Domain (SAN) SSL Certificate, please note that most Multi-Domain Certificates do not secure the domains with and without “www”. With other words if you want to secure both, example.com and www.example.com under one single Multi-Domain Certificate, that will be considered as two different domain names. The screenshot on the right shows you where you can find the attribute that tells you if your Multi-Domain Certificate secures both “www” and “non-www” under one single domain (SAN), or not.

Anyway, that is not a problem so as you cannot have the same website open both as www.example.com and as example.com. All website owners only choose one of these options and make the other option automatically re-direct to the other. For example, you can choose your website to always open at www.example.com and anybody who enters on example.com is automatically redirected to www.example.com. In this way, you only have to secure one domain, and that is: www.example.com.

The multi-domain certificate can be initially activated for the primary domain name.

If you wish to add more domains later, you need to reissue the certificate in your SSLDragon.com account, and add the SAN (additional domain) list in the SAN field, when reissuing.


If you need to add more domains than included by default, then please choose the Add More SANs option in order to pay for and activate the additional SANs.

When you buy a multi-domain SSL Certificate and you include several domain names and/or sub-domains in it, the Certificate Authorities require you to pass the domain validation for each and every domain name and/or sub-domain that you included in your multi-domain SSL Certificate, and only after that, the multi-domain SSL Certificate will be issued to you.

POSSIBLE PROBLEM: Sometimes the email addresses, or your HTTP options, or the DNS records that you choose for your multi-domain certificate do not get set correctly when they reach the Certificate Authority. You will know that when you see that you only got one single domain validation message to your email address instead of getting several domain validation messages, or your multi-domain SSL Certificate’s status still shows as “Awaiting Validation (Full)” even though you passed the domain validation for one of the domains.

HOW TO FIX: There is an easy way to fix that, and that requires getting in contact with the Certificate Authority’s Validation Department. When you contact them, please provide them your “Partner Order ID” (see screenshot on the right), and then tell them about the domain validation method that you chose to go with: HTTP, DNS, or Email. If you chose to pass the domains validation by email, then double-check with the Validation Department representatives what email addresses are set in their system, and ask them to send you the domain validation messages to your desired email addresses.

Sectigo/GoGetSSL

Please call Sectigo Validation Department at +1 (888) 266-6361 (Ext 4) or https://sectigo.com/support for the above-stated reasons. When you talk to them, you will need to provide them your “Partner Order ID”.

Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert

Please call Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert Validation Department at +1 (520) 477-3152 (Ext 2) for the above-stated reasons. Please note that Thawte, GeoTrust, DigiCert are all owned by DigiCert, and they all have the same phone number provided above.  When you talk to them, you will need to provide the “Partner Order ID”.

You can receive a refund ONLY for the additional domains (SANs) that you bought and NOT used.

If you have already activated the SAN (additional domain) for a particular domain name, then you cannot be refunded for that specific domain name.

Yes, absolutely.

The Multi-Domain (UCC/SAN) SSL Certificate allows you to secure multiple domains or subdomains which are hosted either on one IP address or different IP addresses. This SSL Certificate type was particularly designed to secure multiple websites within one single SSL Certificate as an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution. 

To add your Company Name and TAX/VAT number, you have to login into your SSL Dragon Account and follow these steps:

1. Click on the “Hello, *Your Name*” button on the right top side of your account dashboard and select “Edit Account Settings”;
2. On the ‘My Details’ page, you will find the ‘Company Name’ and ‘Company TAX/VAT ID’ field;
3. Fill in these fields with the necessary information then click on ’Save Changes’. 

After you perform the above steps, your SSL Dragon account and all your invoices will be automatically updated with this information.

SaveSave

There are many different ways to install an SSL Certificate, and they all depend on your SSL Certificate brand, the webserver type, the operating system on your server, and the web hosting panel that you have on your server.

These being said, please check our Installation Articles to get detailed instructions on how to install your SSL Certificate on about 44 different server types, hosting panels, and operating systems.

Also, here are links to documentation on how to install your SSL Certificate on your server, based on the SSL Certificate brand that you have:
– Sectigo
– Thawte/RapidSSL/GeoTrust/DigiCert
– GoGetSSL

We always recommend you get specialized help with your SSL Certificate installation. If you have a web developer or a system engineer, then they would be the right people to help you with your SSL Certificate installation.