Certificate Templates overview

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Certificate Templates overview

Certificate templates are an integral part of an enterprise certification authority (CA). They are an important element of the certificate policy for an environment, which is the set of rules and formats for certificate enrollment, use, and management.

When a CA receives a request for a certificate, groups of rules and settings must be applied to that request to perform the requested function, such as certificate issuance or renewal. These rules can be simple or complex and may apply to all users or specific groups of users. Certificate templates are the sets of rules and settings that are configured on a CA to be applied against incoming certificate requests. Certificate templates also give instructions to the client on how to create and submit a valid certificate request.

Although all issued certificates are based on a certificate template, certificate templates can only be issued by an enterprise CA running on Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003, Enterprise Edition, or Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003, Datacenter Edition. The templates are stored in Active Directory for use by every CA in the forest. This allows the CA to always have access to the current standard template and ensures homogenous application of certificate policy across the forest.