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Systems & Data Center · Intermediate

Distinguished Name (DN)

The full LDAP path that uniquely identifies an object in a directory, built from components such as CN, OU and DC.

Definition

A DN lists the object's relative distinguished name followed by its parent containers up to the domain components. Scripts and LDAP filters use DNs to target objects.

Example

CN=Jane Doe,OU=Sales,DC=corp,DC=example,DC=com identifies a user in the Sales OU.

Exam tip

Read a DN right to left: domain components, then OUs, then the object's common name.

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