User Guide

Understanding Network Communications 21
Server Communications Administration Guide
103-000145-001
August 30, 2001
Novell Confidential
Manual 99a38 July 17, 2001
Figure 1 Service Location Protocol
Once the application has registered with the SLP User agent, it can look up a
service or get a list of services and read the attributes of a service, using either
blocking calls or synchronous calls. In the IP environment, this information is
pulled out of the Directory agent and put into NDS so that users and
administrators can know what services are available in a local area, provided
the proper security rights are granted.
A Novell client can use the User agent to go into an SLP Directory agent or
Service agent, or into NDS to reach out to other LAN or WAN segments, as
shown in Figure 2 on page 22.
This method does not rely on service information obtained from routers.
Instead, NDS is used for global communication of information. Through this
method, service updates on local segments are just as reliable and dynamic as
on IPX SAP-based networks.
U
ser Agent
(Server)
User Agent
(
Workstation)
Directory Agent Service Age
nt