Resolving names to network endpoints

Abstract

A system, apparatus, method, and computer-readable medium are provided for resolving a name to a network endpoint. According to one method, naming providers are registered with a computer system that are operative to resolve names to network endpoints for one or more domains. A provider can claim to be a primary provider or a secondary provider for a domain. A provider can also register as a wildcard provider. Once the providers have been registered, requests may be received to resolve an e-mail address into a network address of the corresponding computer system. In response to such a request, one or more of the registered providers are identified as being able to resolve names in the domain to network addresses. Requests are transmitted to the identified providers requesting that they resolve the e-mail address to a corresponding network address. The manner in which the requests are made depends upon whether authoritative results are required. Once the results of the name resolution have been returned, the results are utilized to establish a network connection to and communicate with the computer system identified by the returned network address.