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Introduction

The DNSServiceDiscovery API is part of Bonjour, Apple’s implementation of zero-configuration networking (ZEROCONF).

Bonjour allows you to register a network service, such as a printer or file server, so that it can be found by name or browsed for by service type and domain. Using Bonjour, applications can discover what services are available on the network, along with all necessary access information—such as name, IP address, and port number—for a given service.

In effect, Bonjour combines the functions of a local DNS server and AppleTalk. Bonjour allows applications to provide user-friendly printer and server browsing, among other things, over standard IP networks. It does this by combining protocols such as multicast and DNS to add new functionality to the network (such as multicast DNS).

This gives applications easy access to services over local IP networks without requiring the service or the application to support an AppleTalk or Netbeui stack, and without requiring a DNS server for the local network.

For a detailed overview of Bonjour, see “Bonjour Overview”

For additional information on Bonjour, including links to standards, specifications, and resources, see http://developer.apple.com/networking/bonjour/.

This section describes the functions, callbacks, and data structures that make up the DNSServiceDiscovery API.

Contents:

Who Should Use this API
Requirements
Limitations

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