Service Context

The service type creates the service context in which service names can be bound. There is no restriction on what type of references may be bound in a service context. The policies depend on the applications that use the service context. For example, a group of desktop applications may bind references for a calendar, a telephone directory, a fax service, and a printer in a service context.

For example, the command

# fncreate -t service org/sales/service/

creates a service context for the organization sales. Because the terminal atomic name is a namespace identifier, fncreate also adds a binding for org/sales/_service/ that is bound to the reference of org/sales/service/. After executing this command, names such as org/sales/service/calendar and org/sales/service/fax can then be bound in this service context.

The service context supports a hierarchical namespace, with slash-separated left-to-right names. The service namespace can be partitioned for different services. Continuing with the desktop applications example, a group of plotters may be named under the service context after the creation of the plotter context.

# fncreate -t service org/sales/service/plotter

Names such as org/sales/service/plotter/speedy and org/sales/service/plotter/color could then be bound under the service context.

Because the terminal atomic name is not a namespace identifier, no additional binding is added (as was the case with service and _service).

The service context created is owned by the administrator who ran the fncreate command.