A survey of remote procedure calls

ABSTRACT

The Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is a popular paradigm for inter-process communication (IPC) between processes in different computers across the network. It is widely used in various Distributed Systems. Although it is conceptually simple and straightforward to implement, there are a lot of different and subtle issues involved which result different RPC implementations. In this paper, various distinctive RPC implementations are surveyed, analyzed and compared: Xerox Courier RPC, Xerox Cedar RPC, Sun ONC/RPC, Apollo NCA/RPC, Cambridge Mayflower Project RPC, MIT Athena Project RPC, Stanford Modula/V RPC, and Rajdoot RPC are presented. The design objectives, features provided, call semantics, orphan treatment, binding, transport protocols supported, security/authentication, data representation and application programming interface of these RPCs are examined.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS

General Terms:
Documentation, Management