For some applications, the clients need to import an RPC resource that belongs to a specific system, and the clients can specify a server entry name to learn about a server on that system. For example, a process server that allows clients to monitor and control processes on a remote machine is useful only to that machine. The following figure illustrates this type of system-specific interpretation of the resource model.
Resource Model: A System-Specific Application
Because clients usually find a system-specific server by specifying its server entry to the import operation, groups are usually not part of the NSI search path for system-specific applications. However, groups are a management tool for such applications. A group containing the names of the server entries of all the current servers can act as an accounting database. Also, a group for the servers on each set of related systems, such as the members of a LAN or an administrative grouping, permits a client to sequentially use the application on every system in the set. An application with system-specific servers should not use profiles.