Name Resolution as Indirection¶

Separating names from addresses through a resolution layer enables location transparency, load distribution, and configuration changes without client modification; all scalable systems use some form of name-to-location indirection.

Tension Addressed¶

Simplicity vs. Performance (caching adds complexity); Transparency vs. Control

Recognizable As¶

DNS, service discovery, registries, virtual IPs, symbolic links, dependency injection, service locators

Canonical Sources¶

Mockapetris, RFC 1034/1035 DNS (1987); Saltzer, "Naming and Binding of Objects" (1978)

Transfers To¶

Service meshes, configuration management, dependency injection, URL routing, symbolic references in any system

Sub-concepts: - TTL and caching trade-offs: Long TTLs improve performance but delay propagation of changes - Hierarchical naming: Enables distributed authority and scalable resolution