Novell EDIRECTORY 8.8 SP3, Administration Manual, Page: 44 / 634

44 Novell eDirectory 8.8 Administration Guide
n
ov
do
cx (e
n)
11
Ju
ly 20
08
In creating a typeful name, eDirectory uses the type abbreviation, an equal sign, and the object’s
name. For instance, Bob’s partial typeful name is CN=Bob. Bob’s complete typeful name is
CN=Bob.OU=Accounts.OU=Finance.O=YourCo. You can use typeful names interchangeably with
typeless names in eDirectory utilities.
1.3.3 Name Resolution
The process eDirectory uses to find an object’s location in the directory tree is called name
resolution . When you use object names in eDirectory utilities, eDirectory resolves the names
relative to either the current context or the top of the tree.
1.3.4 Current Workstation Context
Workstations have a context set when the networking software runs. This context relatively
identifies the location of the workstation in the network. For example, Bob’s workstation would be
set to the current context as follows:
Accounts.Finance.YourCo
Current context is a key to understanding the use of leading periods, relative naming, and trailing
periods, discussed in the following sections.
1.3.5 Leading Period
Use a leading period to resolve the name from the top of the tree, no matter where the current
context is set. In the example below, the leading period tells the CX (Change Context) utility to
resolve the name relative to the top of the tree.
CX .Finance.YourCo
eDirectory interprets the command as “Change the context to the Finance container, which is in the
YourCo container, resolved from the top of the tree.”
1.3.6 Relative Naming
Relative naming means that names are resolved relative to the workstation’s current context, rather
than from the top of the tree. Relative naming never involves a leading period, since a leading period
indicates resolution from the top of the tree.
Suppose a workstation’s current context is set to Finance. (See Figure 1-11 .)
Figure 1-11
Sample eDirectory Container
The relative object name of Bob is
Bob.Accounts