The document summarizes remote procedure calls (RPC), which allow programmers to call procedures or functions on other machines remotely, making distributed systems appear as a local procedure call. It discusses how RPC works by using stub functions to simulate a local procedure call, how data is marshaled and sent over the network, issues around parameter passing and data representation, and other aspects of designing and implementing an RPC system.

1. Remote Procedure Calls Paul Krzyzanowski [email_address] [email_address] Distributed Systems Except as otherwise noted, the content of this presentation is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

4. How do regular procedure calls work in programming languages?

9. Stub functions network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines 1. Client calls stub (params on stack) client functions client stub client server

10. Stub functions server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines 2. Stub marshals params to net message client functions client stub network routines client server

11. Stub functions 3. Network message sent to server client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

12. Stub functions 4. Receive message: send to stub client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

13. Stub functions 5. Unmarshal parameters, call server func client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

14. Stub functions 6. Return from server function client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

15. Stub functions 7. Marshal return value and send message client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

16. Stub functions 8. Transfer message over network client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

17. Stub functions 9. Receive message: direct to stub client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

18. Stub functions 10. Unmarshal return, return to client code client functions client stub network routines server functions server stub (skeleton) network routines client server

20. RPC has issues

28. Where to bind? – Solution 1 Maintain centralized DB that can locate a host that provides a particular service (Birrell & Nelson’s 1984 proposal)

37. RPC compiler IDL client code (main) server functions RPC compiler client stub headers server skeleton data conv. data conv. compiler compiler server client Code you write Code RPC compiler generates

41. The end.