Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI)

Distributed computing environments often employ naming and directory services to obtain shared components and resources. Naming and directory services associate names with locations, services, information, and resources. Naming services provide name-to-object mappings. Directory services provide information on objects and the search tools required to locate those objects. There are many naming and directory service implementations, and the interfaces to them vary.

Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) provides a common interface that is used to access the various naming and directory services. See http://java.sun.com/products/jndi/serviceproviders.html for a list of naming and directory service providers which support access through the JNDI interface.

JNDI is an integral part of other Java programming models and technologies, such as data access, enterprise beans, and JavaMail.

See the topics below for more detailed information about JNDI.

JNDI basic concepts
This topic provides conceptual information about naming, name space logical views, initial context support, and the differences between JNDI and CORBA.

JNDI implementation
This topic describes the WAS implementation of JNDI, including package and interface support. This page also links to JNDI caching and JNDI helpers and utilities information.

Use JNDI
This topic provides an overview of the steps necessary for using JNDI within your Java components.

For information on how to migrate JNDI configurations from previous releases, see Migrate JNDI configurations in the Migration topic.