RFC 1485 (rfc1485) - Page 1 of 7
A String Representation of Distinguished Names (OSI-DS 23 (v5))
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group S. Hardcastle-Kille
Request for Comments: 1485 ISODE Consortium
July 1993
A String Representation of Distinguished Names
(OSI-DS 23 (v5))
Status of this Memo
This RFC specifies an IAB standards track protocol for the Internet
community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol
Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
The OSI Directory uses distinguished names as the primary keys to
entries in the directory. Distinguished Names are encoded in ASN.1.
When a distinguished name is communicated between to users not using a
directory protocol (e.g., in a mail message), there is a need to have
a user-oriented string representation of distinguished name. This
specification defines a string format for representing names, which is
designed to give a clean representation of commonly used names, whilst
being able to represent any distinguished name. Please send comments
to the author or to the discussion group osi-ds@CS.UCL.AC.UK>.
Table of Contents
1. Why a notation is needed...................................... 1
2. A notation for Distinguished Name............................. 2
2.1 Goals......................................................... 2
2.2 Informal definition........................................... 2
2.3 Formal definition............................................. 3
3. Examples...................................................... 6
4. References.................................................... 6
5. Security Considerations....................................... 6
6. Author's Address.............................................. 7
1. Why a notation is needed
Many OSI Applications make use of Distinguished Names (DN) as defined
in the OSI Directory, commonly known as X.500 [CCI88]. This
specification assumes familiarity with X.500, and the concept of
Distinguished Name. It is important to have a common format to be
able to unambiguously represent a distinguished name. This might be
done to represent a directory name on a business card or in an email
Hardcastle-Kille
