relative distinguished name (X.500) (RDN)

In a hierarchically structured directory tree, all objects receive the designations of all objects above the respective object for unique identification.

For example, in a postal address structure, the object at the "street" hierarchy level contains the designations for the city district, the state, and the country. This naming is called Distinguished Name( DN); the difference between the names of two objects lying below each other is called Relative Distinguished Name ( RDN). In the example with the postal address structure, this would be the country or the state or the city.