Remote pipes and procedures for efficient distributed communication
ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS)
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
The advantages of remote procedure call are combined with the efficient transfer of bulk data and the ability to return incremental results in a new communication model for distributed systems. Three ideas form the basis of this model. First, remote procedures are first-class values which can be freely exchanged among nodes, thus enabling a greater variety of protocols to be directly implemented in a remote procedure call framework. Second, a new type of abstract object called a pipe allows bulk data and incremental results to be efficiently transported in a safe manner. Unlike procedure calls, pipe calls do not return values and do not block a caller. Data sent down a pipe is received by the pipe''s sink node in strict FIFO order. Third, the relative sequencing of pipes and procedures can be controlled by combining them into channel groups. A channel group provides a FIFO sequencing invariant over a collection of channels. Application experience with this model, which we call the "Remote Pipe and Procedure Model", is reported.