Distinguished Name

A Distinguished Name (DN) is a string that uniquely identifies an entry in the LDAP directory. It’s comparable to a path in a file system. The CN portion of the DN is comparable to a file name.

As it applies to SAML attribute mapping, an Identity Provider may return a DN (e.g. CN=userGroup, OU=Users, DC=domain, DC=net) for the prototypeName attribute. More details on SAML authentication and attribute mapping are available in the “Single Sign On” section of the Niagara Station Security Guide.