I am adding a new front end server to the existing farm. The existingWFE has SSL enabled. Can I use the same certificate for the new frontend server or do I need to request a new one?
In our testing environment we ran into some issues with reusing the cert – a separate cert is recommended by Microsoft.
use the existing one...........................
In my first response to this, I mistakenly assumed you have more than one IIS site. If this is the case, then my original post stands but I’ll defer to others with more experience with a single IIS site.
If you are creating another front-end to the same Portal or WSS top level site (IIS Virtual Server), you will need to use the same certificate. The certificate should be matched to the URL that you are using, so would be applicable to both IIS Virtual Servers (1 on each front end box).If you are running multiple Portals / WSS top level sites (on different ports) you will need a certificate for each URL
You'll need to create an NLB IP address/host name combination and then get acert for that IP/name. Otherwise, there's little sense in adding the second WFEserver.
So how does DNS resolve to both servers without implementing NLB?
You would have to implement load balancing if you are using the same certificate on both servers (just like you mentioned in your previous post -- this is usually what you would do with multiple front ends for the same portal in the same farm.), If you are using different URLs (even different URLs to the same portal) you would need different certificates.