RLNH assigns each endpoint a link address identifier. The association between the name of an endpoint and the link address that shall be used to refer to it is published to the peer in an RLNH_PUBLISH message. RLNH_PUBLISH is always the first RLNH message transmitted when a new endpoint starts using the link.

Upon receiving an RLNH_PUBLISH message, RLNH creates a local representation of the remote name. Local applications can communicate transparently with such a representation, but the signals are in reality forwarded by RLNH to the peer system where the real destination endpoint resides (and the destination will receive the signals from a representation of the true sender).

The link addresses of source and destination for each signal are given to the Connection Manager for transmission along with the signal data and delivered to the peer RLNH. The link addressing scheme is designed to enable O(1) translation between link addresses and their corresponding local OS IDs.