User Guide

20 Server Communications Administration Guide
Server Communications Administration Guide
103-000145-001
August 30, 2001
Novell Confidential
Manual 99a38 July 17, 2001
routers must forward the multicast packets to all registered nodes. To solve
this problem, NetWare SLP Directory agents collect the information from
local segments and then establish IP unicast relationships. Although the SLP
RFC defines the Directory agent and its relationship to the user and Service
agents, the specification doesn't address the relationship among multiple
Directory agents. A Directory Agent-to-Directory Agent protocol is
mentioned in the specification, but the work has been left to a future version
of the RFC. NDS, however, provides a solution. The NDS replicated database
can provide authenticated and synchronized information across networks
while preserving network bandwidth.
Scope Container Object
SLP employs the Scope container object which defines a logical grouping of
services. The Scope object allows network administrators to logically group
services according to geographical, geo-political, service type, or any other
administrative criteria in order to control distribution or visibility on the
network. The primary goal of the SLP Scope is to enhance the scalability of
gathering and distributing network service information.
How SLP Works
The following figure illustrates how SLP registers a service provider on a local
segment. Each agent must register its own services. Whether the User agent is
on the server or on a workstation, it can register as a client after it
communicates with the Directory agent to see what services are available.
Once the service is registered with the Directory agent or Service agent, you
can register or deregister the service.