The following table is from chapter 7 of the Oracle Net serices admin guide. Reproduced for ease of access only.

1. Easy Connect
   1. Advantages
      1. minimal configuration
      2. Eliminates the use of configuration files.
   2. Disadvantages: Very basic with no support for any extended services.
   3. Recommended for: Very simple TCP/IP networks where no advanced features are needed.
2. Local naming
   1. Advantages
      1. Provides relatively straightforward method of resolving net service names.
      2. Resolves names across networks running different protocols.
   2. Disadvantages: requires local configuration of all net service names and addresses.
   3. Recommended for: Simple networks with small number of services that change infrequently.
3. Directory naming
   1. Advantages
      1. Ease of centralized managemment: changes are made in one place vs multiple.
      2. Directory stores names for other services.
      3. LDAP tools used for simple configuration.
   2. Disadvantage: requires access to a directory server which has to be managed.
   3. Recommended for: Complex networks with services that change frequently.