OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

Chapter 2. DCE Host Services

Every DCE host must maintain certain kinds of data about itself and the servers it

provides. For example, each host stores conﬁguration data about its DCE environment,

and it also stores data about servers registered and running on the host. In addition, each

host needs some services to not only manage this data but also to administer the host and

DCE servers. For example, a service that can start and stop speciﬁc servers has obvious

value. The DCE host services consist of the following:

• Endpoint Mapper

The endpoint mapper service enables a client to ﬁnd servers on a particular host and

the services and objects provided by those services. This service maintains on each

host an endpoint map that contains a mapping of port addresses (endpoints) to

servers, the services servers provide, and the objects servers manage.

• Hostdata Management

The hostdata management service stores and controls access to such data as the

host’s cell name, the host name, and the cell alias names, among other things.

• Server Management

The server management service can start and stop speciﬁed servers on a host, enable

or disable speciﬁc services provided by a server, and manage conﬁguration and

execution data about these servers.

• Security Validation

The security validation service maintains a login context for the host’s identity of

itself, maintains the host principal’s keys, and ensures applications (especially login

programs) that the DCE security daemon (secd) is genuine.

• Key Table Management

A server uses private keys for its security instead of human-entered passwords. The

key table management service can be used to manage the keys stored in key tables on

a server’s host.

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