OSF DCE Administration Guide--Core Components

OSF DCE Administration Guide—Core Components
The GDS name syntax consists of a global prefix /... and a set of elements, called
Relative Distinguished Names (RDNs). Each RDN consists of one or more pairs of parts
separated by an = (equal sign) character. The items that are separated by an equal sign
are multiple AVAs (Attribute Value Assertions). See the for more information about
AVAs. The first part of a pair is an abbreviation that indicates a type of information.
Some common abbreviations are Country (C), Organization (O), Organization Unit
(OU), and Common Name (CN). The second part of the pair is a value. (See Section
11.5.2 for more information on GDS names.)
The following example shows a global name for a price database server named in CDS.
The server is used by the Portland sales branch of XYZ Company, an organization in the
United States.
Cell name CDS name
/.../C=US/O=XYZ/OU=Portland/subsys/PriceMax/price_server1
As the example illustrates, global names for entries that are created in CDS look slightly
different from pure GDS-style names. The first portion of the name,
/.../C=US/O=XYZ/OU=Portland, is a global cell name that exists in GDS. The
remaining portion, /subsys/PriceMax/price_server1, is a CDS name.
The cell name exists because cells must have names to be accessible in the global
naming environment. The GDA looks up the cell name in the process of helping CDS in
one cell find a name in another cell. Cell names are established during initial
configuration of the DCE components. Before configuring a cell that will participate in
standard intercell communication (that is, via the DNS or GDS global directory
services), the DCE administrator must obtain a unique cell name from either of the
global naming environments, depending on whether the cell needs to be accessed
through GDS or DNS.
The next example shows the global name of a host at ABC Corporation. The global
name of the company’s cell, /.../abc.com, exists in DNS.
Cell name
/.../abc.com/hosts/mysystem
CDS name
11.4.2 Hierarchical Cell Names
In a hierarchy of cells, the names of one or more cells, called child cells, are registered in
a cell’s CDS; this cell is called the parent cell. The cell at the top of the hierarchy must
be registered in a global directory service (GDS or DNS), but the cells underneath do not
need to be since they use CDS to communicate. A child has one and only one parent at
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