2.9.9 Distributed Name Servers

Parts of the name table are distributed to different servers eg. in Domain Name Service, servers are allocated portions of the name space below certain domains such as the root, ac.uk, susx.ac.uk

Names can be partitioned between servers based on

algorithmic clustering

eg apply well-known hash function on name to map to server. May result in server being remote from object. Only technique for UIDs

structural clustering

if name is structured, use structure to designate names to particular server, such as in DNS

attribute clustering

if names are constructed using attributes, then servers take responsibility for certain attributes.