Host Name In Certificate

Attribute

HostNameInCertificate (HNIC)

Purpose

A host name that is validated against the information stored in an SSL certificate when validation is enabled (ValidateServerCertificate=1). This option provides additional security against man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks by ensuring that the server the driver is connecting to is the server that was requested. This option is only valid when SSL encryption is enabled.

Valid values

host_name | #SERVERNAME#

Behavior

If the value is set to a host name, the driver examines the subjectAltName values included in the certificate. If a dnsName value is present in the subjectAltName values, then the driver compares the value specified for Host Name In Certificate with the dnsName value. The connection succeeds if the values match. The connection fails if the Host Name In Certificate value does not match the dnsName value.

If no subjectAltName values exist or a dnsName value is not in the list of subjectAltName values, then the driver compares the value specified for Host Name In Certificate with the commonName part of the Subject name in the certificate. The commonName typically contains the host name of the machine for which the certificate was created. The connection succeeds if the values match. The connection fails if the Host Name In Certificate value does not match the commonName.

If multiple commonName parts exist in the Subject name of the certificate, the connection succeeds if the Host Name In Certificate value matches any of the commonName parts.

Default

None

GUI tab

Security tab

See also

Data encryption