Measuring and Modelling RPC Performance in OSF DCE
Date
1997-11
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Masters
Abstract
Middleware is an enabling layer that enables developers to build distributed
applications on heterogeneous computer systems that are provided by different vendors. Middleware provides to the distributed applications a group of distributed
services that mask the details of different operating systems and networks.
The Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) is the current de facto standard for middleware. DCE is based on the popular client/server model.. The communication - the core service of DCE - is performed by the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) facility. RPC performance is of vital importance to the performance of both DCE applications and the DCE system, because RPC forms the basis of communication for DCE and DCE applications.
The RPC communication of DCE is performed by the RPC Runtime, which works according to the RPC protocols. RPC data is fragmented/reassembled by the RPC protocols and the lower layer network protocols. This adds overhead at both
the client/server processor and the network, affects the RPC performance, and, with
other operations introduced by RPC protocol, make the RPC-caused network traffic
bears certain characteristics. Understanding the characteristics of RPC-caused
network traffic is useful in understanding issues relating to DCE performance.
Many factors affect DCE RPC performance. Among them, network utilisation and underlying transport protocols are important because RPC relies on the network
for communication. Another important factor is interoperation, the need to
operate across different platforms, because DCE is designed to help the distribution
of applications on different platforms and operating systems.
This research deals with the performance of DCE RPC. The focus is on the measurement and modelling of the packet arrival process of RPC-caused network traffic in the DCE environment, and the measurement of the latency and capacity of DCE RPC when running synthetic DCE applications, as a function of network utilization,
underlying transport protocols, and interoperation of platforms/OSs. The purpose
is to provide a better understanding of RPC and its performance issues.
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Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Computer Science
Program
Computer Science