The Network Services Location (NSL) Manager provides a protocol-independent way for applications to discover network services that are available in the local network. An application can use the NSL Manager to obtain a list of network services, display the list, and allow the user to choose and connect to a particular network service. Both Navigation Services dialog boxes and Network Browser use NSL.
NSL features in Mac OS 9 are:
- NBP Plug-in - For the Name Binding Protocol (part of AppleTalk).
- LDAP Plug-in - For the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
- Supports version 2.0 of the Service Location Protocol (SLP).
- You can drag and drop from NSL dialogs and make internet location files.
SLP - Service Location Protocol
An emerging standard, open protocol. Used for advertising and discovering network services. File Sharing and Personal Web Sharing use this.
DNS - Domain Name Server
This looks up machine names (like www.apple.com) and translates them into IP addresses
LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Commonly used for phone directories, etc. The "People" servers that Sherlock 2 uses are LDAP servers. LDAP is a standard protocol defined in RFC 1488 (1777, 2251). This protocol communicates over TCP/IP.
NBP - Name Binding Protocol (NBP)
Part of AppleTalk that translates AppleTalk zone and machine names into their corresponding numbers. This protocol communicates over AppleTalk.