Most operations take a name parameter to specify the target of the operation. The name is represented by an instance of one of the subclasses of the OM class DS_C_NAME. The DCE XDS API defines the subclass DS_C_DS_DN to represent distinguished names and other names.
For directory interrogations, any aliases in the name are dereferenced, unless prohibited by the DS_DONT_DEREFERENCE_ALIASES service control. However, for modify operations, this service control is ignored if set, and aliases are never dereferenced.
RDNs are represented by an instance of one of the subclasses of the OM class DS_C_RELATIVE_NAME. The DCE XDS API defines the subclass DS_C_DS_RDN to represent RDNs.