OpenSLP 1.3.0 review

The OpenSLP project is an effort to develop an open-source implementation of Service Location Protocol suitable for commercial and no

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: OpenSLP maintainer

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The OpenSLP project is an effort to develop an open-source implementation of Service Location Protocol suitable for commercial and non-commercial application.

The Service Location Protocol (SLP) was originally an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards track protocol that provides a framework to allow networking applications to discover the existence, location, and configuration of networked services in enterprise networks.

Traditionally, in order to locate services on the network, users of network applications have been required to supply the host name or network address of the machine that provides a desired service. Ensuring that users and applications are supplied with the correct information has, in many cases, become an administrative nightmare.

Protocols that support service location are often taken for granted, mostly because they are already included (without fanfare) in many network operating systems. For example, without Microsoft's SMB service location facilities, "Network Neighborhood" could not discover services available for use on the network and Novell NetWare would be unable to locate eDirectory trees.

Nevertheless, an IETF sponsored protocol for service location was not standardized until the advent of SLP. Because it is not tied to a proprietary technology, SLP provides a service location solution that could become extremely important (especially on Unix) platforms.