Distinguished Names and Relative Distinguished Names

An entry is made up of a collection of attributes that have a unique identifier called a distinguished name (DN). A DN consists of a name that uniquely identifies the entry at that hierarchical level. In the example above, John Doe and Jane Doe are different common names (cn) that identify different entries at that same level.

A DN is also a fully qualified path of names that trace the entry back to the root of the tree. For example, the distinguished name of the John Doe entry is:

   cn=John Doe, ou=People, dc=sun.com

A relative distinguished name (RDN) is a component of the distinguished name. For example, cn=John Doe, ou=People is a RDN relative to the root RDN dc=sun.com. DNs are used to describe the fully qualified path to an entry while an RDN is used to describe the partial path to the entry relative to another entry in the tree.

Wherever necessary, the LDAP OTD mimics this same directory structure.