Service Location Protocol

Service Location Protocol (SLP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards track protocol that provides a framework to allow networking applications to discover the existence, location, and configuration of networked services in enterprise networks.

Although the IETF SrvLoc working group has been concluded for some time now, significant work towards improving and extending SLP continues throughout the IETF. This work includes the submission of RFCs annually for SLP enhancement recommendations, as well as new and updated "service:" templates allowing SLP to be used with newer network services.

What is OpenSLP?

The OpenSLP project is an effort to develop an open-source implementation of the IETF Service Location Protocol suitable for commercial and non-commercial application.

While other service advertising and location methods have been invented and even widely consumed, no other system thus far has provided a feature set as complete and as important to mission-critical enterprise applications as SLP.

OpenSLP is licensed under the Caldera Systems open source license - a license that is legally compatible with the popular BSD open source license.

OpenSLP is hosted by SourceForge.net. You can find source code and binaries, mailing lists and archives, bug trackers and forums, and other project-related information on the SourceForge OpenSLP project pages. The pages on this website provide convenient access to much of the information managed by the OpenSLP project site.

Will it Run on My System?

OpenSLP has been ported to a wide variety of systems. Here's the list of systems that we currently know about:

  • Linux (32/64)
  • Windows (32/64)
  • SCO Unix
  • FreeBSD
  • Solaris
  • Tru64
  • Mac OS X
  • Darwin
  • Irix

Please feel free to contact us if you know of platforms that we should add to this list.

Keeping Tabs

Sign up for our SourceForge project news feeds to keep track of what's going on with the OpenSLP project. Use the RSS feed subscription feature of your browser to subscribe to our SourceForge news feeds. Not sure where to start? Try the Project News and File Release feeds first. Just look for the standard orange RSS feed icon in your browser interface - in Firefox, for instance, you'll find it at the right end of the browser's URL address edit field.