org.cispec.commonname

recommended: any CI with a human-recognizable name distinct from its inventory identifier

org.cispec.commonname records the human-recognizable name of a Change Item — what people call it, as distinct from its inventory control number (asset-tag), its service identity (application), or the identity of its accountable owner (owner).

The lineage is X.509 Certificate commonName (CN) and X.500/X.520 commonName attribute — the human-readable identifier used in Distinguished Names, DNS Subject Alternative Names, and directory entries. net.matrix carried this field from the original LDAP-backed CMDB design.

commonname applies to any Change Item: a server (PDX-CORE-SW-01), a facility (groom.lake), a vessel (USS Enterprise), a spacecraft (Apollo 11), a programme (Manhattan Project), a medical device (Ward 3B Infusion Pump 4), a weapon system, a person’s credential identity, or any other tracked thing that humans refer to by a consistent name. It is not limited to servers, software, or desktops.

Value format

A free-form human-readable name. No slug requirement — spaces, mixed case, and special characters are permitted where the naming convention of the owning organisation uses them.

org.cispec.commonname=groom.lake
org.cispec.commonname=PDX-CORE-SW-01
org.cispec.commonname=Ward 3B Infusion Pump 4
org.cispec.commonname=Apollo 11

Conformance

org.cispec.commonname is RECOMMENDED for any CI where a human-recognizable name exists and is distinct from the asset tag or service identity. It is not REQUIRED for Declared conformance.

Attestation

commonname is not independently attestable. It is a human-assigned label with no external registry to verify against. In X.509 contexts the CN is verified by the issuing CA; outside certificate contexts it is self-asserted by the owning organisation.

Resolution and relation

commonname does not form a globally unique reverse-lookup edge — the same name may be assigned to different CIs across different organisations. Within a single organisation, “every CI called groom.lake” is a useful query. Across organisations, commonname values should be interpreted alongside organization to disambiguate.

Document identifier

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.42387.2.9.1
GUID: 4b7c32ea-11f0-5afa-bac9-08ee71694c37