---
title: Certificate subject DNs
description: A certificate's subject distinguished name (DN) is a name that provides information about the certificate and how it is intended to be used.
component: pingdirectory
version: 11.0
page_id: pingdirectory:pingdirectory_security_guide:pd_sec_cert_subject_dns
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/11.0/pingdirectory_security_guide/pd_sec_cert_subject_dns.html
revdate: September 13, 2023
---

# Certificate subject DNs

A certificate's subject distinguished name (DN) is a name that provides information about the certificate and how it is intended to be used.

Like an LDAP DN, it is comprised of a comma-delimited series of attribute-value pairs, but the attribute names in a certificate subject DN are typically written in all uppercase, whereas they are typically lowercase or camelCase in LDAP DNs.

Attributes that commonly appear in certificate subjects include:

* CN

  A common name. For a listener certificate, this is often a hostname that clients use to access the certificate, although the subject alternative name extension provides a better mechanism for accomplishing that. Most certificate subject DNs include at least the CN attribute.

* E

  An email address.

* OU

  An organizational unit (department) name.

* O

  An organization (company) name.

* L

  A locality (city) name.

* ST

  A state or province name.

|   |                                                                             |
| - | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | This should be the full name of the state or province, not an abbreviation. |

* C

  An ISO 3166 country code (not the full country name).

A certificate subject should include at least one attribute-value pair, and the CN attribute is typically present. Other attributes can be omitted, but the O and C attributes are also fairly common. For example, a listener certificate for a server with an address of ldap.example.com run by the US-based company Example Corp might have a subject of `CN=ldap.example.com,O=Example Corp,C=US`.