RMI - Remote Method Invocation

RMI enables the programmer to create distributed Java-to-Java applications, in which the methods of remote Java objects can be invoked from other Java virtual machines, possibly on different hosts. A Java program can make a call on a remote object once it obtains a reference to the remote object, either by looking up the remote object in the bootstrap naming service provided by RMI or by receiving the reference as an argument or a return value. A client can call a remote object in a server, and that server can also be a client of other remote objects. RMI uses Object Serialization to marshal and unmarshal parameters and does not truncate types, supporting true object-oriented polymorphism.

RMI Tutorial

• Getting Started
  The RMI Tutorial shows you the steps to follow to create a distributed version of the classic Hello World program using Java^TM Remote Method Invocation (RMI). The Hello World applet makes a remote method call to the server from which it was downloaded to retrieve the message "Hello World!".

• When you download the JDK 1.1 Beta release you will find useful examples in the docs/guide/rmi/examples directory.

• RMI Specification

• java.rmi Package
• java.rmi.dgc Package
• java.rmi.registry Package
• java.rmi.server Package

• rmic - Java RMI Stub Compiler - (for Win32) (for Solaris)
• rmiregistry - Java Remote Object Registry - (for Win32) (for Solaris)

• Release Notes

See the Java Distributed Systems home page for an overview of the Distributed Systems Group at JavaSoft and information on some of our upcoming projects, including an interim plug-in for Netscape 3.0 (which is JDK 1.0.2 based) that enables RMI based applets to be run.