__NOTOC__
Open Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Call (RPC), commonly known as Sun RPC is a
remote procedure call system. ONC was originally developed by
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...
in the 1980s as part of their
Network File System
Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems (Sun) in 1984, allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed. NFS, li ...
project.
ONC is based on
calling convention
In computer science, a calling convention is an implementation-level (low-level) scheme for how subroutines or functions receive parameters from their caller and how they return a result. When some code calls a function, design choices have b ...
s used in
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
and the
C programming language
''The C Programming Language'' (sometimes termed ''K&R'', after its authors' initials) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well as ...
. It
serializes data using the
External Data Representation (XDR), which has also found some use to encode and decode data in files that are to be accessed on more than one platform. ONC then delivers the XDR payload using either
UDP or
TCP
TCP may refer to:
Science and technology
* Transformer coupled plasma
* Tool Center Point, see Robot end effector
Computing
* Transmission Control Protocol, a fundamental Internet standard
* Telephony control protocol, a Bluetooth communication s ...
. Access to RPC services on a machine are provided via a ''
port mapper'' that listens for queries on a
well-known port (number 111) over UDP and TCP.
ONC RPC was described in RFC 1831, published in 1995. RFC 5531, published in 2009, is the current version. Authentication mechanisms used by ONC RPC are described in RFC 2695, RFC 2203, and RFC 2623.
Implementations of ONC RPC exist in most
Unix-like
A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
systems.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
supplies an implementation for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
in their
Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX product; in addition, a number of third-party implementation of ONC RPC for Windows exist, including versions for
C/
C++,
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...
, and
.NET (see external links).
In 2009, Sun
relicensed the ONC RPC code under the standard 3-clause
BSD license
BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software. This is in contrast to copyleft licenses, which have share-alike requirements. The original BSD li ...
and then reconfirmed by
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
in 2010 following confusion about the scope of the relicensing.
ONC is considered "lean and mean", but has limited appeal as a generalized RPC system for
WANs or heterogeneous environments. Systems such as
DCE,
CORBA and
SOAP
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are used ...
are generally used in this wider role.
See also
*
XDR - The grammar defined in RFC 1831 is a small extension of the XDR grammar defined in RFC 4506
*
DCE
*
XML-RPC
XML-RPC is a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism.Simon St. Laurent, Joe Johnston, Edd Dumbill. (June 2001) ''Programming Web Services with XML-RPC.'' O'Reilly. First Editi ...
References
*
Notes
External links
RFC 1050- Specifies version 1 of ONC RPC
RFC 5531- Specifies version 2 of ONC RPC
— A tutorial on ONC RPC by Dr Dave Marshall of Cardiff University
— A developer's introduction to RPC and XDR, from SGI IRIX documentation.
Netbula's PowerRPC for Windows (ONC RPC for Windows with extended IDL)Netbula's JRPC (ONC RPC for Java)(supports J2SE, J2ME and AndroidONC/RPC Implementation of the University of Aachen (Germany)Remote Tea (LGPL Java Implementation)Remote Tea .Net (LGPL C# Implementation)Distinct Corporation's ONC RPC for WindowsLinux Journal article on ONC RPCJava NIO based ONC RPC library
{{Sun Microsystems
Application layer protocols
Internet Standards
Remote procedure call
Sun Microsystems software
Unix software