![]() Distinguished names (DNs) are the string representation for entry names in a Directory Server directory. You use DNs to name entries using the LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF), when using the LDAP clients, when configuring the Directory Server, and so forth.
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Distinguished NamesDN ComponentsA DN consists of the following components in this order:
The traditional syntax for a DN string representation is as follows:Distinguished Name Examples The following are some traditional examples of distinguished names:
cn=Retch Sweeny, ou=Product Test, o=Bait and Tackle Inc, st=Michigan, c=US cn=printer3b, l=room 308, o=Acme Programming Ltd, c=US Another example of a distinguished name using a non-traditional format
might be:
In the above example, the root of the directory tree is identified by the organization attribute (o) and not the country attribute (c). In the example, the value of the organization attribute is set to the DNS name for the company (airius.com). The advantage of this format is that most companies have a unique DNS name and many are multi-national, therefore, the root of their directory tree is not restricted to a country designator. Also in the above example, all employees are placed in the organizational unit (ou) people instead of real organizational units. The advantage of this format is the reduced administration each time the company reorganizes or an employee moves to a different organization (the tree structure remains the same). The last change in the example above is that a person's distinguished name in the directory tree is identified by their user identification attribute (uid) instead of their common name attribute (cn). Using a unique uid for each person eliminates the possibility of having duplicate common names in the directory. |