API Usage Model

Many clients of the XFN interface are only interested in lookups. Their usage of the interface amounts to:

• Obtaining the initial context

• Looking up one or more names relative to the initial context

After the client obtains a desired reference from the lookup operation, it constructs a client-side representation of the object from the reference. This need not be code within the application layer but can be code inside the service layer. For example, RPC services can provide clients with a means of constructing client-side handles from a composite name for the service or from a reference containing an RPC address for the service. After receiving this handle, the client performs all further operations on the object or service by supplying the handle.

This is the basic model of how the XFN interface is expected to be used. The FNS policies described earlier further encourage a bind/lookup model for how services and clients can rendezvous through the use of the naming service.