SSL certs

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>]

Hi,

We're going to need some SSL certificates here for some secure websites.

I've never purchased these before, and I'm wondering if anyone on this
list could point me in the right direction.

My questions are:

1. Who is a reputable SSL certificate authority, that is recognized
   automatically by all modern browsers?  

   Due to past experience with VeriSign for DNS matters,
   I prefer to avoid them if possible.

2. We will have several different hosts, and thus different hostnames,
   running secure sites.  Do we need to purchase a certificate for
   each, or can we purchase a single certificate and use it to sign the
   certs for the different hosts?

3. Are there any resources out there on using commercial certs with
   Debian?  Any CAs that cater specifically to Debian?

Thanks!

-- John