NAME
      DCE_INTRO - Introduction to the DCE routines

  DESCRIPTION

      The DCE routines provide several facilities that are applicable across
      more than one DCE component.  They can be divided into the following
      major areas:

      DCE attribute interface routines
                 These routines allow applications to define and access
                 attribute types (schema entries) in a schema of your
                 choice.  They are based on the Extended Registry Attribute
                 (ERA) interface, which defines and accesses attribute
                 types in the register database schema.
                 For more information about the individual attribute
                 interface routines, see the dce_attr_intro reference
                 page.

      DCE configuration routines
                 These routines return information based on the contents
                 of the local DCE configuration file, which is created
                 during the DCE cell-configuration or machine-configuration
                 process.
                 For more information about the individual configuration
                 routines, see the dce_cf_intro reference page.

      DCE backing store routines
                 These routines allow you to maintain typed data between
                 program invocations.  The backing store routines can be
                 used in servers, in clients or in standalone programs
                 that do not involve remote procedure calls (RPC).
                 For more information about the individual backing store
                 routines, see the dce_db_intro reference page.

      DCE messaging interface routines
                 These routines give you access to message catalogs, to
                 specific message texts and message IDs, and to in-memory
                 message tables.
                 For more information about the individual messaging
                 interface routines, see the dce_msg_intro reference
                 page.

      DCE server routines
                 These routines are used by servers to register themselves
                 with DCE.  This includes RPC runtime, the local endpoint
                 mapper, and the namespace.  Routines are also available
                 to set up DCE security so that servers can receive and
                 invoke authenticated RPCs.
                 For more information about the individual server routines,
                 see the dce_server_intro reference page.

      DCE serviceability routines
                 These routines are intended for use by servers that
                 export the serviceability interface defined in service.idl.
                 There are also a set of DCE serviceability macros can be
                 used for diagnostic purposes, and to create a
                 serviceability handle.
                 For more information about the individual serviceability
                 routines, see the dce_svc_intro reference page.
                 For more information about the individual DCE serviceability
                 macros, see the DCE_SVC_INTRO_2 reference page.

      DCE Host daemon application programming interface
                 These routines give management applications remote
                 access to various data, servers, and services on DCE hosts.
                 For more information about the individual host daemon
                 application programming interface routines, see the
                 dced_intro reference page.