Chapter 5: Naming and Name Service

Name: a unique (abstract) identifier to

refer an entity in a system.
 Naming space: a closed/open space in which all
names are meaningful and no ambiguity.
 Name resolution: a process to map a name to its
identified entity.

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 Commonly used naming methods

 Address: an access point

entity:address  1:1 or 1:M
address could be static or dynamic

 Identifier: an integer or a binary string

an ID refers to at most one entity
each entity is referred to by at most one ID
An ID always refers to the same entity

 Textual name: a human-friendly symbolic string

location independent
many different forms: file names, DNS names

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 Name Spaces

A general naming graph with a single root node.

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 Path names
root
devices etc
nfs

server1

u1

book

Chapter5

Path: a sequence of directed links(labels)

UNIX absolute path: /nfs/server1/u1/book/Chapter5/
UNIX relative path ： book/Chapter5
DOS absolute path ： C:\u1\book\Chapter\
MacOS relative path ： u1:book:Chapeter5
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Possible topologies of naming space
r
 Global name:
denotes the same entity,
no matter where the
name is used ( absolute
(a) Tree with shared leaf nodes path)
r

 Local name:
interpretation depends
on where the name is
(b) Directed graph without rings used (relative path)
r

 Root:
the name whose node
has no incoming edges
(c) Directed graph

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 File: from name to entity

Boot block: automatically loaded to install OS into main memory

Super block: contains information on the entire file system
Index node: contains exact information about its associated file
Disk block: contains portion of file data
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 Linking and Mounting

root root root

output file others users network file

personal file Student faculty clients

Mounting point Mounting point

bob tom john ken

A B C D

Server 1 Client Server 2

Linking: allow multiple absolute path names to refer to the same node
Mounting: allow a node to refer to a node from a different name space
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 NFS: from name to entity

path /nfs/server1/u1/book/Chapter5

port PORT:9 ID: 23456

server

file
Network address ： 2:60:8c:5b:7a

NFS: Network File System

name resolution process maps an absolute path name to a
physical file over the network
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NFS: access remote name space

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 NFS: software architecture

Client Server

Client process

Virtual file system Virtual file system

Local NFS NFS RPC NFS Local

File Client server File
Sys. modul module Sys.
e

NFS RPC:
open/close, read/write, rename, set attributes, etc.

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 DNS: Domain Name System
Global Layer

com edu gov mil cn fr uk ca …….

sun yale ……. ……. uoguelph

……. cs eng Admin. cis math

layer

……. ……. snowhite

Managerial li draco …….

layer

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 DNS: logical layers

 Global layer:
formed by highest-level nodes, such as com, edu, gov, int, cn,
ca, us, …; directory tables are rarely changed, nodes represent
organizations, or groups.

 Administrational layer:
formed by nodes within a single organization, such as
universities, companies, …; directory tables are relatively
stable.

 Managerial layer:
formed by nodes that may typically change regularly, such as
users, student accounts, email accounts, …

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 DNS: A comparison of logical layers

Item Global Administrational Managerial

Geographical scale of network Worldwide Organization Department

Vast
Total number of nodes Few Many
numbers
Responsiveness to lookups Seconds Milliseconds Immediate

Update propagation Lazy Immediate Immediate

Number of replicas Many None or few None

Is client-side caching applied? Yes Yes Sometimes

 Zone: a part of name space that is implemented by a separate name server

 Domain: a sub-tree of DNS name space
 Domain Name: a path name in DNS name space (either absolute or relative)

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 DNS: name resolution (iterative)

Client request ： li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca

1 li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca
Root name server
2 #<ca> li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph.

3 li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph
ca name server
client 4 #<uoguelph> li.snowhite.cis
name
resolver 5 li.snowhite.cis
uoguelph name server
6 #<snowhite> li

7 li
snowhite name server
8 #<li>

#<ca ,uoguelph, cis, snowhite, li>

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 DNS: name resolution (recursive)

Client request ： li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca

1 li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca
Root name server
8 #<ca, uoguelph, cis, snowhite, li>
2 li.snowhite.cis.uoguelph
7 #<uoguelph, cis, snowhite, li>

client ca name server

name
resolver 3 li.snowhite.cis
6 #<snowhite,li>

uoguelph name server

4 li
5 #<li>

snowhite name server

#<ca ,uoguelph, cis, snowhite, li>

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 DNS: resource record types

Type of Associate
Description
record d entity
SOA Zone Holds information on the represented zone
A Host Contains an IP address of the host this node represents
Refers to a mail server to handle mail addressed to this
MX Domain
node
SRV Domain Refers to a server handling a specific service
Refers to a name server that implements the
NS Zone
represented zone
Symbolic link with the primary name of the represented
CNAME Node
node
PTR Host Contains the canonical name of a host
HINFO Host Holds information on the host this node represents
Contains any entity-specific information considered
TXT Any kind
useful
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 Naming versus Locating Entities

a) Direct, single level mapping between names and

addresses.
b) Two-level mapping using identities.

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 Locating a Mobile Entity
 Broadcasting:
a message containing the ID of the entity is broadcast to each
machine and each machine is requested to check whether it
has that entity. Suitable for local network. How about
moving?

 Forward pointer:
when an entity moves from A to B, it leaves behind a
reference to its new location at B. Chain problem, broken link.

 Home Based:
a home location keeps track of the current location of an
entity. Triangle communication. How about moving?

Distributed Systems 18