JNDI Java Naming and Directory Interface

The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) is part of the Java platform, providing applications based on Java technology with a unified interface to multiple naming and directory services. You can build powerful and portable directory-enabled applications using this industry standard.

Naming Services

JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface) enables Java platform-based applications to access multiple naming and directory services. Part of the Java Enterprise application programming interface (API) set, JNDI makes it possible for developers to create portable applications that are enabled for a number of different naming and directory services, including: file Ssystems; Directory services such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Novell Directory Services, and Network Information System (NIS); and distributed object systems such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). 

As an illustration of what JNDI does, Todd Sundsted (in a JavaWorld article, JNDI overview, Part 1: An introduction to naming services) uses the analogy of a library's file system. Sundsted says that JNDI organizes and locates components within a distributed computing environment similarly to the way that card catalogs (and increasingly computer applications) organize and represent the locations of books within a library. A distributed application needs a means of locating components in the same way that the library patron needs a means of locating the book: just rummaging around inside a library - or an application - is not an efficient way to find a particular object. JNDI makes it possible for application components to find each other. Because different naming and directory service providers can be seamlessly connected through the API, Java applications using it can be easily integrated into various environments and coexist with legacy applications. The current version, JNDI 1.2, was specified with input from Netscape, Novell, Tarantella, Sun, and BEA. JNDI is considered an industry standard. 

The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) is a Java API for a directory service that allows Java software clients to discover and look up data and objects via a name. Like all Java APIs that interface with host systems, JNDI is independent of the underlying implementation. Additionally, it specifies a service provider interface (SPI) that allows directory service implementations to be plugged into the framework. The implementations may make use of a server, a flat file, or a database; the choice is up to the vendor. 

The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) is part of the Java platform, providing applications based on Java technology with a unified interface to multiple naming and directory services. Powerful and portable directory-enabled applications can be built using this industry standard.

# Directory Services
# Why use Directory Services?
# The JNDI API
# The Context