Directory requirements for a multidatabase service

The Directory Service and the Multidatabase Service are two important components of the execution environment for distributed applications being developed within CORDS. We believe that a strong relationship should exist between these two services and discuss a possible architecture in which the catalog for the multidatabase service (the MDBS Catalog) is kept within the directory service. We describe the requirements of the MDBS Catalog: expected contents, expected types and frequencies of access, security, and performance. We discuss how these requirements can be met by the directory service.