Pro Forms/ssl certificate on prime domain serving subdomains

[Berkshirereview]

I have just purchased a single-site license for S2Member Pro to set up a subscription system for my online arts magazine: http://berkshirereview.net. This domain is actually a subdomain of http://artspress.com, which has other subdomains which might someday also require paid subscriptions, but for the moment I am only concerned with berkshirereview.net, and I have S2Member Pro set up on it. My host will allow ssl certificates only for the primary domain.

My question is, what is the best way to use artspress.com to manage the subscriptions of berkshirereview? Should I upgrade to an unlimited-site license, install S2Member on both sites and keep the forms for berkshirereview.net (and other subdomains, when the time comes) on arts press.net, or is there a way to make it work with the single-site license, moving it to arts press.net and redirecting payment from berkshirereview.net?

[Cristián Lávaque]

I'll ask Jason, he'll be the best one to answer this.

By the way, you only need SSL if you use the pro-forms to receive payments on-site using PayPal Pro or Authorize.Net. Is that the case?

[Berkshirereview]

Thanks, Christian.

Yes, I only need SSL to receive PayPal payments on-site via the pro-forms.

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for the heads up on this thread.

I'm not sure I understand completely, but I think you mean "add-on domain" for your hosting account, which is common with cPanel administrations. So artspress.com is your Primary Domain, with your hosting company, and berkshirereview.net is an add-on domain for this account.

If you intend to run s2Member Pro Forms on berkshirereview.net, you MUST have an SSL certificate that works on this domain. If your current hosting plan does not allow this, you may need to upgrade your hosting plan to one that does, or move to a different hosting provider that allows this; or, perhaps run s2Member Pro on your Primary Domain: artspress.com.

Please note. It's not currently possible to run s2Member Pro Forms on your Primary Domain, where content is being protected on another, completely different site. s2Member Pro Forms, along with the rest of your s2Member installation, needs to be running together on one installation of WordPress ( i.e. on one domain ). Even with an s2Member Unlimited Site License, you wouldn't want to mix Pro Forms from one site, with content on another. Each installation of WordPress runs a unique instance of s2Member. A transaction on any given domain, provides access to content offered on that domain.

[Berkshirereview]

Thank you, Jason. I think that sets me straight. My host, Bluehost, tells me that all subdomains/add-on domains (i.e. berkshirereview.artspress.net, redirected to berkshirereview.net) will be SSL-protected if I use wildcard SSL. Then I can use the installation of S2 Member on berkshirereview.net as intended.

Also, my compliments on your exceptionally clear instructional videos and documentation. The forums have been a great help as well.

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for reporting back on this. MUCH appreciated!
~ and thank you for the KUDOS too