Os Process Management Questions Medium
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is a communication protocol that allows a process running on one system to execute a procedure on a remote system. It enables processes to communicate and exchange data across different machines in a networked environment.
The concept of RPC is based on the idea of making a procedure call from one process to another process residing on a different machine, as if it were a local procedure call. This abstraction hides the complexities of network communication and provides a transparent mechanism for inter-process communication.
The process communication using RPC involves the following steps:
1. Client Process: The process that initiates the RPC is called the client process. It makes a procedure call to a remote server process as if it were a local procedure call.
2. Stub: The client process uses a stub, which is a local procedure that acts as a proxy for the remote procedure. The stub marshals the parameters of the procedure call into a message format suitable for network transmission.
3. Message Passing: The client process sends the message containing the procedure call and its parameters to the server process over the network.
4. Network Communication: The message is transmitted over the network to the server process.
5. Server Process: The server process receives the message and extracts the procedure call and its parameters from the message.
6. Stub: The server process uses a stub, which is a local procedure that acts as a proxy for the remote procedure. The stub unmarshals the parameters from the message and invokes the actual procedure on the server.
7. Procedure Execution: The server process executes the requested procedure using the provided parameters.
8. Result Marshaling: The server process marshals the result of the procedure execution into a message format suitable for network transmission.
9. Message Passing: The server process sends the message containing the result back to the client process over the network.
10. Network Communication: The message is transmitted over the network to the client process.
11. Stub: The client process receives the message and extracts the result from the message.
12. Result Unmarshaling: The client process unmarshals the result and returns it to the original caller.
By using RPC, processes can communicate and collaborate across different machines without the need for low-level network programming. It provides a high-level abstraction for process communication, making it easier to develop distributed applications and systems.