NamesThe DCE Directory Service stores the names and attributes of resources in DCE. The DCE directory components that operate within a cell and outside of a cell are different. The main components of the DCE naming environment include:
· DCE Cell Directory Service (CDS)
A distributed service that manages the namespace of the cell. A namespace is comprised of CDS names (including directories, object entries, and soft links) plus application namespaces that appear past junctions (see the discussion of junctions later in this section). The Visual ACL Editor works only on DCE objects inside a cell's namespace.
· DCE Global Directory Service (GDS)
An implementation of a directory service standard known as X.500. GDS supports the global naming environment between cells.
· Domain Name System (DNS)
A widely used global name service that DCE supports, by allowing cells to interoperate through DNS. Many networks use DNS primarily as a name service for Internet hostnames. DNS supports (as does GDS) the global naming environment between cells.
All entries in the DCE Directory Service have a global name that is universally meaningful and usable from anywhere in the DCE naming environment. The prefix /... indicates that a name is a global DCE name. A global name can refer to an object within a cell (named in CDS) or an object outside of a cell (named in GDS or DNS). The Visual ACL Editor does not support ACLs in GDS or DNS.
In addition to their global names, all objects within a cell have a cell-relative, or local, name that is meaningful and usable only from within the cell where that object exists. The local name is a shortened form of the global name, and, thus, is a more convenient way to refer to resources within a user's own cell. Local names begin with the prefix /.:.
Local names do not include a global cell name because the /.: prefix indicates that the name being referred to is within the local cell. When CDS encounters a /.: prefix on a name, it automatically replaces the prefix with /... and the local cell's name, thus forming the global name.
Not all DCE names are stored directly in the DCE Directory Service. Some application servers connect into the cell namespace by means of specialized CDS entries called junctions. Junction entries allow applications to have their own namespace under CDS. The application manages this namespace and supports its objects in it.
For example, the DCE Security Service keeps a database of users and information about them, such as their passwords. This database is accessible as a namespace past a CDS junction, and the Security Service maintains this namespace. The name of the Security Service junction is /.:/sec. The junction is the CDS leaf object sec, and under sec resides the Registry database.
NOTE: CDS namespace tools, such as the CDS control program (cdscp), do not allow you to see past the junction entry.
Names