Subject name

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Subject name

The holder of the private key associated with a certificate is known as the subject. This can be a user, a program, or virtually any object or service. Because the subject can vary greatly depending on who or what it is, some flexibility is needed when providing the subject name in the certificate request. Windows can either build the subject name automatically or request it from the subject manually. If it automatically provides the subject name, Windows obtains the information from Active Directory. You can configure this process to include or exclude information useful in the environment. If configured to manually provide the subject name, the subject supplies that information in the certificate request, for example by using the Web-based enrollment pages.