An object identifier (OID) is an unambiguous, long-term name for any type of object or entity.
In computing, an OID appears as a group of characters that allows a server or end user to retrieve an object without needing to know the physical location of the data. This approach is useful for automating and streamlining data storage in cloud computing environments. On the Internet, an OID takes the form of a Universal Unique Identifier (UUID), a 128-bit number used to uniquely identify an object or entity. In a database, an OID is a set of integers that uniquely identifies each row (or record) in a table.
It is based on a hierarchical name structure based on the "OID tree". This naming structure uses a sequence of names, of which the first name identifies a top-level "node" in the OID tree, and the next provides further identification of arcs leading to sub-nodes beneath the top-level, and so on to any depth.
A critical feature of this identification mechanism is that it makes OIDs available to a great many organizations and specifications for their own use (including countries, ITU-T Recommendations, ISO and IEC International Standards, specifications from national, regional or international organizations, etc.).
