Naming and Directory Services (JNDI)

Java Naming and Directory InterfaceTM (JNDI) is an API that provides directory and naming functionalities for Java applications.

JNDI is based on the naming and directory concepts and allows applications to access multiple naming and directory services via a common interface.

• Naming service - provides a mechanism to name objects and to retrieve objects by name.

  If you want to associate an object with a particular name, you have to bind it. Once the object is bound, it can be accessed through the lookup operations and through the operations for working with names (rename, rebind, unbind.).

  Some objects cannot be stored directly so they are put in the system as references.

  A reference is an object, which contains one or some addresses of objects that are not directly bound to the naming system.

• Directory service - a naming service that allows each bound object to be associated with attributes and provides a way of retrieving an object by looking up some of its attributes rather than its name. The attributes are object characteristics. Both the attributes and the object itself form a directory object. A directory is a linked set of directory objects.

JNDI is part of the Java platform and is developed in accordance with the JNDI 1.2 Specification to meet the naming system requirements of Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5 (Java EE 5). The JNDI specification is released by Sun Microsystems.

• The most common JNDI operations are creating an initial context, binding, and looking up objects in the namespace.

  More information:

  Creating an Initial Context

  Binding Objects

  Looking up Objects

• The JNDI Registry Service enables applications to locate, access, and use objects - such as EJBs, JMS, and so on - by name.

  More Information: Using JNDI Registry Service to Locate Resources