Does IIS 8.5 support wildcard host header binding?

Solution 1:

Worth noting that IIS 10.0 does support wildcard host names, see: http://www.iis.net/learn/get-started/whats-new-in-iis-10/wildcard-host-header-support

Solution 2:

I do not think so. When trying to use *.example.com as host header IIS 8 tells me:

So a * is still forbidden as hostheader

Solution 3:

Although it wasn't supported, MS did allow multiple certs to be bound to multiple sites on the same IP. The problem was that it usually broke when requests came in.

In IIS 8.5 with the addition of SNI support, you are correct in that it will allow you to do what you are wanting to do now; that is, use a single IP (or many) and bind multiple sites with either a regular SSL or a wildcard.

See here for how to use SNI and wildcards in IIS. (Multiple Certificates using SNI.)

Please note, you will have to tweak some settings, more DNS than IIS, but it will work. See here for how to do a workaround.

Solution 4:

This is possible, but it requires slightly more work. You will need a dedicated IP address for the site.

1. Point all domains to the single IP.
2. Bind the IP to your site without any Host Name.
3. Write a simple script to inspect the URL and redirect and/or deliver content from the appropriate folder/db etc.