A distributed name server is a specialized dictionary object that you can use to store, manage, and retrieve object references based upon symbolic names. The symbolic names provide an indirect way of referring to object references without having to specify physical location information. A name server entry consists of an identifier and a reference type, as follows:

By default, all name servers are temporary. Changes you make to the contents of a temporary name server are made only within the context of the current Smalltalk session. However, you can specify that any name server be persistent. A persistent name server stores its contents in a separate archive file outside the Smalltalk environment. Each time you start an object space containing a persistent name server, the name server reloads its contents from the archive file. Therefore, any changes to the contents of a persistent name server remain in effect even after shutting down and restart the Smalltalk image.

SST provides a basic name server capability through its object export functions. However, there are no tools or user interface for managing exported objects. SST does provide a runtime API for managing exported objects. For more information, see Name server.