Entries in a directory are arranged into a hierarchical tree-like structure based on their Distinguished Name (DN). This tree of directory entries is called the Directory Information Tree (DIT). Each entry contains one or more attributes that describe the entry.
Net8 entries in a DIT are connect identifiers (net service names or the actual names of services) that map to connect descriptors. All Net8 entries appear under an Oracle Context, which is a hidden Oracle object entry with a entry of cn=OracleContext. This subtree is created in a user-specified location in the DIT during a Custom installation on the server.
Clients are configured with an administrative context. The administrative context is a directory entry that contain an Oracle Context. The client uses the administrative context to locate a place in direcvtroy from which to look up connect identifiers.
Each entry contains one or more attributes that describe the entry. Each attribute has a type and a value. For example, the directory entry for a net service name has the following attributes:
Each entry is identified by a unique DN.
dc stands for a domain component, ou stands for an organizational unit, and cn stands for a common name. dc=acme,dc=com stands for the organization acme.com. The UK and the US organizations are clearly identified by their individual domain components dc=uk and dc=us, respectively. The UK organization of ACME is further identified by two distinct organizational units called ou=mktg (for marketing) and ou = acctg (for accounting).
There are two sales services available in ou=mktg,dc=uk and dc=us, respectively.
The two sales objects have DNs of:
cn=sales,dc=us,dc=acme,dc=com
cn=sales,ou=mktg,dc=uk,dc=acme,dc=com