SSL certificate chain terminology

Hierarchy

The certificate rank in the chain can be root, intermediate or end-user.

Common name

Validation type

The validation type can be at the domain or organization level or an extended validation.

Valid from and to

Date range during which the certificate is valid.

Subject

Who or what organization the certificate has been issued to.

Issuer

The Certificate Authority (CA) that issued the certificate.

Serial number

The certificate serial number a unique number issued by the CA in order to track revocation.

Signature

The signature of an SSL certificate is the algorithm that was used to sign the public key.

Purpose

Lists one or more purposes that the certificate can be used for.

Public key information

The type, size (in bits) and Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) format of the public key.

Extensions

This section lists all extensions associated with the certificate.