Chapter 2. Name Resolution
Name resolution is the process of taking a net service name, which is a name you use when you connect to a database, and translating it to a specific database service, or database instance, on a specific host. One of the nice things about Net8 is that it provides location transparency to your applications by allowing you to connect to a database using a net service name. Net8 takes that net service name and puts it through a name resolution process in order to determine the following pieces of information:
The network address of the database server
The database service name or the instance name
The protocol to use for the connection
There may be other information associated with a net service name, but these items represent the primary pieces of information needed to connect to a database over a network.
Tip
Prior to release 8.1 of Net8, the term service name was used for what Oracle now calls a net service name. The name was changed so that Oracle could use the term service name to describe a database service. A Net8 service is now identified by a net service name.
Oracle currently supports the following five name resolution methods (each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages):
- Local naming (
tnsnames.orafiles) Uses a file called
tnsnames.oraon each client to translate net service names.- Directory naming (LDAP)
Is really another form of centralized name management, but it involves the use of an LDAP directory as a repository for name definitions.
- Centralized ...