Host-related Bindings

A process is running on a particular host when the XFN initial context function is invoked. FNS defines the following bindings in the initial context that are related to the host the process is running on.

thishost

The namespace identifier thishost (or _thishost) is bound to the host context of the host running the process. For example, if the process is running on the machine cygnus, thishost is bound to the host context of cygnus, and the name thishost/service/calendar refers to the calendar service of the machine cygnus.

thisorgunit

FNS assumes that a host is associated with an organizational unit. A host can be associated with multiple organizational units, but there must be one that is primary. In an NIS+ namespace, this organizational unit corresponds to the host's home domain.

The namespace identifier thisorgunit (or _thisorgunit) resolves to the primary organizational unit of the host running the process. For example, if that host is the machine cygnus, and cygnus's NIS+ home domain is west.sales, then thisorgunit resolves to the organizational unit context for west.sales and the name thisorgunit/service/fax refers to the fax service of the organizational unit west.sales.

thisens

FNS assumes that there is an association of a host to an enterprise. This corresponds to the namespace that holds thisorgunit.

The namespace identifier thisens (or _thisens) resolves to the enterprise root of the host running the process. For example, under NIS+, if the host's home domain is sales.doc.com, then the name thisens/site/ resolves to the root of the site namespace of doc.com.