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Java remote method invocation

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A typical implementation model of Java-RMI using stub and skeleton objects. Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v1.2 removed the need for a skeleton.

In computing, the Java Remote Method Invocation (Java RMI) is a Java API that performs remote method invocation, the object-oriented equivalent of remote procedure calls (RPC), with support for direct transfer of serialized Java classes and distributed garbage-collection.

The original implementation depends on Java Virtual Machine (JVM) class-representation mechanisms and it thus only supports making calls from one JVM to another. The protocol underlying this Java-only implementation is known as Java Remote Method Protocol (JRMP). In order to support code running in a non-JVM context, programmers later developed a CORBA version.

Usage of the term RMI may denote solely the programming interface or may signify both the API and JRMP, IIOP, or another implementation, whereas the term RMI-IIOP (read: RMI over IIOP) specifically denotes the RMI interface delegating most of the functionality to the supporting CORBA implementation.

The basic idea of Java RMI, the distributed garbage-collection (DGC) protocol, and much of the architecture underlying the original Sun implementation, come from the "network objects" feature of Modula-3.

Generalized code

The programmers of the original RMI API generalized the code somewhat to support different implementations, such as a HTTP transport. Additionally, the ability to pass arguments "by value" was added to CORBA in order to be compatible with the RMI interface. Still, the RMI-IIOP and JRMP implementations do not have fully identical interfaces.

RMI functionality comes in the package java.rmi, while most of Sun's implementation is located in the sun.rmi package. Note that with Java versions before Java 5.0 developers had to compile RMI stubs in a separate compilation step using rmic. Version 5.0 of Java and beyond no longer require this step.

References

  • "Remote Method Invocation Home". Oracle Technology Network for Java Developers. Redwood Shores, CA, USA: Oracle Corporation. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  • The Java RMI tutorial - a good starting point to learn RMI. Also check the Hello World in RMI
  • the Java RMI online training - Very good for training JavaRMI and as reference
  • The RMI page in the JDK docs
  • java.rmi (Sun's Java API Reference for the RMI package)
  • Ann Wollrath; Roger Riggs; Jim Waldo. "A Distributed Object Model for the Java System" (PDF) (Document). Retrieved 2009-02-11. {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |access-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  • Programming WebLogic RMI - an introduction to RMI in Oracle Weblogic.
  • General Remote Method Invocation
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