By compiling a protocol graph with the machnetipc protocol
and its supporting protocols, one can construct a server that
runs in the Mach3 environment and turns the native IPC mechanism into
one that extends across a set of machines.
This can be used as replacement for the Mach program known as
the ``netmsgserver.'' MachNetIPC is faster than the
netmsgserver and supports all Mach3 IPC semantics and the netname
interface. In addition, the protocols can work over internetworked
configurations. This release is a beta test release. We
expect and welcome problem reports (see section 16.7). Our testing
has established that the transmission of simple messages appears
correct and robust; complex messages involving port transfers are
correct and robust in so far as our environment has allowed testing.
Our test platforms have been HP 720's running OSF/1 from Utah,
DecStations, running MK74 and UX35 and higher, and Intel 486-based
machines running MK82 and UX41.
The files in the mach3/api/netipc directory comprise the interface
between the user tasks and the protocols that transport data. When
they are composed with a protocol graph providing the transport
and liveness services they require,
the resulting xkernel image file can run as a task that supports
the netnameserver interface for registering and retrieving Mach ports
on other machines running the same software. NB this software will not
interoperate with the netmsgserver distributed by CMU.
The implementation of MachNetIPC is described in the Usenix Proceedings of
the Mach III Symposium, Santa Fe NM, April 1993.
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