Where to install ssl

is it usually advisable to install a single domain ssl certificate to the main domain --domain.com and use .htaccess to go in and out of ssl or to a subdomain such as --secure.domain.com. I know there are different needs for different sites but I'm asking for the average websites needs. -eg a website owner wants a secure shopping cart for t开发者_开发问答heir customers should they use domain.com/secure and force ssl or have ssl on secure.domain.com

I would install it on the main domain name. It sounds better to put it on a sub domain but then you technically have a whole separate website to maintain and this could be a negative rating for search engines. Also, need another SSL certificate if you want anything secure on your main site.

Depending on your back end technology (i.e. - .NET, ASP, PHP), it only takes a couple lines of code to check the page request and redirect the user to the proper page desired. For example, if a user goes to [http://www.domain.com/secure] you can redirect the request to the proper secure page (https://www.domain.com/secure) and vice versa.

.htaccess is an older technology and can be very cumbersome to use.