Sensible network administration at the Computer Laboratory requires a mechanism for the resolution of host name to MSNL addresses, similar to the DNS. It was decided to implement a simple MSNL name service for use at the Laboratory which could be used to resolve MSNL address queries. All known MSNL addresses are stored in the name server or in the ANSA trader. The name server queries the ANSA trader to resolve queries for which it does not have the appropriate information. The MSNL name server exports the name_service interface, and is assumed to be located at a well known address. It is always bound to port 223 on its host. The name service interface is located in the master/iface/msdr/name_service.x interface, and should be consulted for data type definitions.
The current name server supports two naming/address domains, the IP and MSNL worlds. The IP name/address resolution is more useful to a non-Unix host which does not have access to the DNS (or /etc/hosts). On Unix, IP name resolution is not implemented in the name server library.