Like all Java APIs that interface with host systems, JNDI is independent of the underlying implementation.
[1] The information looked up via JNDI may be supplied by a server, a flat file, or a database; the choice is up to the implementation used.
[3] The API provides: The SPI portion allows support for practically any kind of naming or directory service, including: Sun Microsystems first released the JNDI specification on March 10, 1997.
The JNDI API defines a context that specifies where to look for an object.
The initial context is analogous to the root or top of a directory tree for a file system.