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Certificates and Authentication
Certificate Chains
CA hierarchies are reflected in certificate chains. A certificate chain is series of
certificates issued by successive CAs. Figure B-7 shows a certificate chain leading
from a certificate that identifies some entity through two subordinate CA
certificates to the CA certificate for the root CA (based on the CA hierarchy shown
in Figure B-6).
Figure B-7
A certificate chain traces a path of certificates from a branch in the hierarchy to the
root of the hierarchy. In a certificate chain, the following occur:
•
Each certificate is followed by the certificate of its issuer.
•
Each certificate contains the name (DN) of that certificate's issuer, which is the
same as the subject name of the next certificate in the chain.
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Managing Servers with Netscape Console • December 2001
Example of a Certificate Chain
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