Java Naming and Directory Interface
Java API for accessing directory services
The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) is a Java API for a directory service that allows Java software clients to discover and look up data and resources (in the form of Java objects) via a name. Like all Java APIs that interface with host systems, JNDI is independent of the underlying implementation. Additionally, it specifies a service provider interface (SPI) that allows directory service implementations to be plugged into the framework. The information looked up via JNDI may be supplied by a server, a flat file, or a database; the choice is up to the implementation used.
Typical uses of JNDI include:
connecting a Java application to an external directory service (such as an address database or an LDAP server)
allowing a Java Servlet to look up configuration information provided by the hosting web container
Background
The Java RMI and Java EE APIs use the JNDI API to look up objects in a network.
The API provides:
a mechanism to bind an object to a name
a directory-lookup interface that allows general queries
an event interface that allows clients to determine when directory entries have been modified
LDAP extensions to support the additional capabilities of an LDAP service
The SPI portion allows support for practically any kind of naming or directory service, including:
LDAP
DNS
NIS
CORBA name service
file system
Sun Microsystems first released the JNDI specification on March 10, 1997. As of 2006, the current version is JNDI 1.2.
Basic lookup
JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface) organizes its names into a hierarchy. A name can be any string such as "org.wikipedia.ejb.MyBean". A name can also be an object that implements the javax.naming.Name interface; however, a string is the most common way to name an object.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Java Naming and Directory Interface” is java API for accessing directory services. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Java, Naming and Directory, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q384725. The first chronological checks are 1997 and 2006.
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This entry incorporates text from “Java Naming and Directory Interface” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.