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Establishing a Cell Name

You need to establish a name for your cell before you can begin the process of configuring it. A uniquely identified cell name is critical to the operation of the Security Service; this name is the basis for authentication in your cell. Whether or not your cell name needs to be globally unique depends on your plans for communication with other cells.

If you plan to create a private cell and do not ever intend for it to communicate with cells outside your organization, you are not required to obtain a globally unique cell name. However, if you plan to communicate with the cells of other organizations, you need to obtain a globally unique cell name for your cell before you configure it.

If you plan to communicate with other cells through GDS, DNS, or CDS, you need to obtain a globally unique name for your cell. The next sections describe how to establish GDS, DNS, and hierarchical names for your cell. See the OSF DCE Administration Guide - Core Components for a description of the valid characters supported in GDS, DNS, and CDS.

In some cases, you may need to change the name of your cell after you have configured it, for example, because your company has reorganized, and the cell name you established at configuration time no longer reflects the new organization. In other cases, you may need to add another name for your cell, for example, if you initially registered it in GDS, and find that you also need to register it in DNS. To add a new name for your cell or change your cell's name, you use the dcecp cellalias task object. See the OSF DCE Administration Guide - Core Components for more details.

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Establishing a GDS Cell Name

Establishing a DNS Cell Name

Establishing a Hierarchical Cell Name