Common Naming Services

Figure 3.1 shows that JNDI supports several well-known naming services, including the following:

• Domain Name System (DNS) is the Internet naming service for identifying machines on a network.

• Novell Directory Services (NDS) from Novell provides information about network services, such as files and printers. NDS is found primarily in environments where the main networking software is Novell.

• Network Information Service (NIS) from Sun Microsystems provides system-wide information about machines, files, users, printers, and networks. NIS is primarily found on Solaris systems, but Linux and some other Unix platforms support it.

• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is the approved standard for an Internet naming service. LDAP is a true directory service and supports attributes as well as names for objects. LDAP is fast becoming the de-facto directory service for the enterprise.

JNDI also supports some more specialized naming systems. For example, CORBA for distributed component programming and RMI for distributed Java programming.

Although there is no named service provider for Windows Active Directory, it is supported. Windows Active Directory supports an LDAP interface, and you can access it via the JNDI LDAP Service Provider Interface.