servicelocation
Service location, or servicelocation, is the information and mechanisms used to identify the network address and access parameters of a service in a distributed system. It enables clients to reach a service without relying on hard-coded endpoints, supporting dynamic scaling, relocation, and versioning.
A typical servicelocation system relies on a registry or directory that stores service instances with metadata
Common discovery approaches include client-side discovery (clients query a registry), server-side discovery (a router resolves services
Challenges include data consistency, caching, latency, versioning, and securing endpoint information. Good practice combines health checks,
See also: service discovery, service registry, load balancing.