Prior to creating an Oracle Names server, you must decide whether:

• You need service registration data replicated continuously among Oracle Names servers, or want all Oracle Names servers within a region to store their registration data in tables an Oracle database.

• You need support for one or more administrative regions. An administrative region is a collection of Oracle Names servers in one or more domains, a grouping of network objects, such as databases. Networks with multiple administrative regions must have one root administrative region and one or more delegated administrative regions. Delegated administrative regions contain the domains and Oracle Names server addresses in any alternate regions which act as direct child regions of the root.

• Each Oracle Names server started within a region makes itself known to all other Oracle Names servers within the local region. All new services register with a given Oracle Names server. The Oracle Names server then provides this service information to all Oracle Names servers in the region or places information in the database.