Network Configuration Manager resources are identified and named through an object identifier. This identifier, referred to as an Object Identifier (OID), uniquely identifies a resource within the Network Configuration Manager system. Using the OID, programmers can directly lookup a Network Configuration Manager resource.
Network Configuration Manager resources also have human-readable names. Most of these names do not have uniqueness constraints within the Network Configuration Manager system (the notable exception is network names; two networks cannot have the same name within the Network Configuration Manager system).
For example, a Network Configuration Manager device can have the same name. However, two devices under a given network cannot have the same name.
The Network Configuration Manager API provides lookup by OID for all the domain objects. Along with this, it also provides a mechanism to lookup by name for primary domain objects like Network, Operational Device, Folder, Site, and Job. Network Configuration Manager recommends avoiding lookups by name for performance reasons. Try to retrieve the object by name once, and cache the OID for subsequent calls.
If a programmer supplies both the resource OID and the resource name, then the OID is used. Otherwise, the name is used.
