A cell is a basic unit of operation and administration in DCE. A cell is a group of users, systems, and resources that typically have a common purpose and share common DCE services.
A cell usually consists of nodes in a common geographic area; for example, on the same local area network (LAN). However, geography does not necessarily determine its boundaries. A cell can include one system or as many as several thousand. The boundaries of a cell are typically influenced by its purpose, as well as by security, administrative, and performance considerations.
Once a cell is set up, you may need access within it and outside of it. The DCE Directory Service provides this capability. See Naming Environments for information about naming in and between DCE cells.
If you use the Visual ACL Editor, you need to understand the following roles of cells in your environment:
· The local cell to which your PC belongs.
· The cell of the object whose ACL you are editing or viewing. This cell name is listed as part of the ACL display, and it is the cell that contains the namespace that lists the object's name and attributes. For more information about naming cells, see Naming Environments.
· The home cell of the ACL you are editing or viewing. The home cell is almost always the cell of the object whose ACL you are displaying.
· The cell containing the registries for users and group entries in the ACL you are editing or viewing