Policy qualifiers

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

Policy qualifiers

The issuance and application policy settings used by a qualified subordinate certification authority (CA) can also contain policy qualifiers. Policy qualifiers provide information or links to information about the policy published by the CA. There are two types of policy qualifiers supported in the Certificate Policies certificate extension: the Certification Practice Statement (CPS) qualifier and the User Notice qualifier. The Certification Practice Statement (CPS) qualifier is in the format of a URI, such as a URL to a Web page containing the CPS. The User Notice qualifier can be composed of a notice reference, a text message up to 200 characters containing the actual notice, or both.

When subjects view a certificate using an application, they can follow the URL and read the description of the issuance policy in a Web browser. If a text message is used as a policy qualifier, the application will display the message.