Yet another SSL question..

[Hazmat]

So I've been searching and can't find anything that really relates to my situation. I have a feeling it may be so obvious that no one’s posted about it before. I'm a newbie when it comes to SSL.

So here's the deal..

I purchased an SSl Cert from GoDaddy. I got it all setup with my host (DreamHost). Before I even tried to change the config files in Zen Cart I noticed I could no longer access my site via HTTP. Everything and anything on the site could only be accessed via HTTPS. I immediately turned off the SSL from inside my DreamHost’s admin panel and opened a ticket with them about why I couldn’t access my page via HTTP anymore with SSL enabled. They advised me to put SSL on a sub domain and use that for login, checkout etc. This all sounds good but how do I go about mimicking login and checkout on a sub domain? Will this work with Zen Cart? Do I want to go this route or is there a better solution to mixing HTTP and HTTPS on the same domain?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[DrByte]

Sounds rather convoluted. SSL should be able to work on the same domain as your non-SSL traffic. If your host can't figure out how to configure that, they shouldn't be in the hosting business.

Zen Cart can handle it either way. If you must change to use a different subdomain for SSL, just set the HTTPS_SERVER parameter in your configure.php files to the new URL.

But for the sake of your customers having easy and intuitive understanding of what's happening while shopping, I don't recommend using a separate subdomain just to put a bandage on bad hosting configurations or a lazy tech support representative's idea of getting another call completed on their logs.

[Hazmat]

Thanks for the quick reply.. I've sent them another email asking why both type of traffic isn't working on the same domain.

[Kim]

While you are waiting - you might want to do a search for dreamhost to see if any of the threads have any help.

[Hazmat]

just to put a bandage on bad hosting configurations or a lazy tech support representative's idea of getting another call completed on their logs.

I just wanted to reply back here in case this helps someone else down the line..

DrByte was right yet again...

It turns out it was just a lazy tech support rep just saying anything to get out of having to actually work the ticket.

The funny thing was, I had done everything right except for waif for the DNS replication to happen. I freaked out too soon and canceled the process. had I waited like I did this morning, everything would have been good.

Thanks again for the support!