I've just read an article about Apache 2.x that includes discussion on SNI, something I admittedly didn't know anything about until just minuts ago. Nerdy! Why does this matter? Typically, my hosting costs are a combination of quality equipment and IP access. Obtaining IPs to stretch my reserves across multiple networks and create the right amount of redundancy is often quite a pain. IPs are the limited resource of the modern web. We're running out. IPV6 is so far away, nobody expects it to replace the present system for quite some time. To lay people, this means SSL certificates which have traditionally relied on one IP for one SSL cert were limited to a given host's ability to obtain unique IPs for all its locations and SSL certs. I can replicate a website in ten locations, along with another few hundred web sites at those ten locations and only require ten IPs. But, with SSLs this requires me to obtain a new IP for each physical location for each domain. SNI allows me to completely sidestep this issue, and frees me up to replicate sites much more liberally.

SNI doesn't solve alot of other admin challenges, like mail, reverse DNS and the like. But, it definitely makes my life simpler once I figure out how to automate the process. It is a new arrow in my quiver, I'm quite shocked more sys admins are discussing. It's just more evidence fewer and fewer people lay their hands on their own servers. As cool as cloud serving may be, real life systems administration still has its place.