Beyond RPC: the Virtual Network

Although RPC is the current method of choice for distributed interprocess communication, its complexity might increase demand for higher-level approaches. The Virtual Network, an idealized, intelligent software network that hides the underlying physical network's incompatibilities and complexities from the distributed programs that run on it, is presented as a solution. The components of the Virtual Network are described, and meta communication, error handling, system administration, performance, and security issues are discussed. The Virtual Network is compared with DCE RPC, the de facto standard. The use of the Virtual Network framework to quickly design and implement a useful, sophisticated distributed application, the distributed Ada compilation tool, is described.<>