Application programs access the network through the socket xti or tli Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These APIs require that client applications provide the corresponding server's IP address and transport port number when initiating a connection. Normally, the server is known only by a remote host or service name rather than an IP address. Applications use standard library services to translate host and service names to IP addresses before attempting to make network connections.
For more information, see Oracle Solaris 11.2 Programming Interfaces Guide for details.