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Let me see if I can explain this clearly. I'm new to SSL certs.

I already got a SSL cert for my company domain xxxxxx.com and is installed in the Cpanel. Now I have an A record created which is abc.xxxxxx.com and this will point to my local server ip (i created the A record for a web service usage)

Now my question is, since the A record abc.xxxxxx.com is already SSL encrypted, do I still need to install the ssl certificate in my local server? I have tried accessing the web service URL https://abc.xxxxxx.com on my browser and it looks fine with no security warnings. Am I good to go already?

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I have tried accessing the web service URL https://abc.xxxxxx.com on my browser and it looks fine with no security warnings.

The subject (or better: subject alternative names) of the subject must match the hostname given in the URL. Since you don't get any browser warnings it is likely that your certificate already covers abc.xxxxxx.com, for example because the certificate is valid for *.xxxxxx.com (wildcard certificate).

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  • Yes, it is a wildcard certificate. So I guess I don't need to install it on my local server already?
    – user3543512
    Aug 5, 2021 at 13:22
  • @user3543512: since you already have the certificate installed and it works you don't need to install it again.
    – Steffen Ullrich
    Aug 5, 2021 at 14:22
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Now my question is, since the A record abc.xxxxxx.com is already SSL encrypted, do I still need to install the ssl certificate in my local server?

Yes. The certificate is not being installed into DNS, and there is no such thing as "SSL encrypted A record". It's the direct communications between client and web server that are SSL encrypted, so each server has to present its own certificate independently (to prove that it is authorized to host that domain).

(Indeed that's a large part of why SSL/TLS is being used – it's to protect against spoofed DNS responses pointing at the wrong server.)

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  • So you are saying that, although I can access https:// abc.xxxxxx.com without any warnings, I am still not SSL-protected?
    – user3543512
    Aug 5, 2021 at 13:50
  • No. I am saying that although you can access it without any warnings now, this does not mean you will be able to access it without warnings once you point it to a different HTTPS server.
    – u1686_grawity
    Aug 5, 2021 at 14:09
  • Actually it is already pointing to my local server via a public IP. My local server does not have SSL cert installed yet. CPanel is at my hosting company. In the A record I set it to point to the public IP which will then be port forwarded to my local server. Then why is it not showing a warning now?
    – user3543512
    Aug 5, 2021 at 14:17

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