DCE/RPC

DCE/RPC, short for "Distributed Computing Environment / Remote Procedure Calls", is the remote procedure call system developed for the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). This system allows programmers to write distributed software as if it were all working on the same computer, without having to worry about the underlying network code.

History

DCE/RPC was commissioned by the Open Software Foundation in a "Request for Technology" (1993 David Chappell). One of the key companies that contributed was Apollo Computer, who brought in NCA - "Network Computing Architecture" which became Network Computing System (NCS) and then a major part of DCE/RPC itself. The naming convention for transports that can be designed (as architectural plugins) and then made available to DCE/RPC echoes these origins, e.g. ncacn_np (SMB Named Pipes transport); ncacn_tcp (DCE/RPC over TCP/IP) and ncacn_http to name a small number.

DCE/RPC's history is such that it's sometimes cited as an example of design by committee. It is also frequently noted for its complexity, however this complexity is often a result of features that target large distributed systems and which are often unmatched by more recent RPC implementations such as SOAP.

Software License

Previously, the DCE source was only available under a proprietary license. As of January 12, 2005, it is available under a recognized open source license (LGPL), which permits a broader community to work on the source to expand its features and keep it current. The source may be downloaded over the web. The release consists of about 100 ".tar.gz" files that take up 170 Megabytes. (Note that they include the PostScript of all the documentation, for example.)

The Open Group has stated it will work with the DCE community to make DCE available to the open source development community, as well as continuing to offer the source through The Open Group’s web site.[1]

DCE/RPC's reference implementation (version 1.1) was previously available under the BSD-compatible (Free Software) OSF/1.0 license, and is still available for at least Solaris, AIX and VMS.

DCE is also still available under the previous non open-source license terms from the Open Group website.

Uses

It was used in the UK's National Insurance Recording System (NIRS/2).[2]

It is used by:

Alternate versions and implementations

Books

References

  1. ↑ News | The Open Group
  2. ↑ The Open Group, CASE STUDY : NIRS2, Winter 1996

External links

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