Abstract: A method and architecture for the administration of large cells in an Open System Foundation/Distributed Computing Environment (OSF/DCE). The architecture organizes the Cell Directory Service (CDS) name space of the OSF/DCE to allow a network administrator to easily determine network resources under their control, and work with a subset of the network resources. The OSF/DCE name space is organized as resource realms having a CDS component and a registry component. The CDS component of the resource realms has a fixed portion containing at least two roots describing sub-systems and realm resources (e.g., printer, serial devices, etc.). The CDS component also contains individual realms defined directly below the fixed portions. The registry component has a root consisting of the security, group and realm portions. Individual realms are defined as directories below the root.