You can use the xkernel image built with MachNetIPC in place of the older netmsgserver. The most common way of utilizing it takes advantage of the netname interface, which is supported by the netmsgserver and by the ``snames'' program. This supports registering a name string and a port for access by remote machines, and lookup of the port corresponding to the name. The ports can be used just like any other Mach port port (with respect to send and receive operations).
Documentation for the netname interface can be found in either the /usr/mach/man area on your system or in this x-kernel distribution in the mach3/api/netipc/netname_star.3 files.
CAVEAT: This release does not support using DNS hostnames for netname lookups. Use the full IP address of remote hosts. See also the protocol appendix section for the ``nns'' service.
There is an aspect of the netname interface that depends on having a broadcast address available. If one machine wants to look up a name without specifying the IP address of the destination, a broadcast query is used. If the machine offering the name is not accessible via broadcast, then the lookup will fail. See section 16.4 for information about setting the UDP port number for this service.
With the exception of broadcast name lookup, all MachNetIPC functions work transparently between machines with local area network or Internet connectivity.