What Is A Certificate Signing Request (CSR)?

UPDATED: March 5, 2023 by Technoyl Team

When someone applies for a SSL certificate, they usually require Certificate Signing Request (CSR). Without this CSR, no certificate authority will issue a SSL certificate to the applicant. Let us get to know the CSR in detail, in this post.

What Is A Certificate Signing Request (CSR)?

Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is basically set of some public information which SSL applicant gives to a SSL issuing authority. The purpose of CSR is to provide information such as public key for which certificate will be issued, along with domain name and identity protection.

What Is A Certificate Signing Request (CSR)?

Screenshot: CSR required while applying for a GeoTrust SSL certificate.

With CSR, the applicant generates private (secret) and public keys. The main work of the CSR to get the identity information for the applicant and issue a SSL certificate on its behalf. SSL certificate issuer may contact applicant for information validation before issuing a SSL certificate.

Following is the information one needs while generating a typical CSR. The distinguished name terminology is often used with SSL certificates, which is also mentioned here.

Information Description Example DN
Common Name This should contain the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for which you want to get a SSL certificate issued. *.technoyl.com CN
Organization This is company name for which SSL certificate is being issued. The company name may have suffix such as Inc., LLC, Ltd., Corp. etc. Technoyl Inc. O
Organizational Unit This could be the specific department of the above organization to which SSL certificate to be issued. OU
City City of the SSL applicant. Mumbai L
County This is the state, province of the SSL applicant. Maharashtra ST
Country The country information for the SSL applicant. It is two-letter ISO code. IN C
Email address The SSL applicant’s or the certificate manager or IT administrator’s email information is required in this field. MAIL MAIL

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