Abstract: A service locator technique is described. According to a specific embodiment, the service locator technique may be configured to provide a distributed DNS-based service which may be used for locating services in a given enterprise, network and/or sub-network. According to one implementation, an ESL device of the present invention may be configured to use Microsoft Active Directory replication topology to determine, for example, the locality of the requester, and/or to determine a network address of the closest or most optimal service provider for that requester. Moreover, according to specific embodiments of the present invention, the service locator technique of the present invention may provide a proxy management mechanism in order to allow various network devices (e.g. DNS servers, etc.) to query selected ESL servers for desired information on behalf of any number of clients and/or proxies.