Remote Operations

In Chapter 2 we examined the Remote Procedure Call paradigm in the construction of distributed systems. OSI contains a similar concept in the form of the Remote Operation Service Elements (ROSE). The objectives are much the same - the provision of the invocation-response semantics that are familiar from local function calls. However, there are two main differences from the classic RPC model: In addition to providing a disciplined way of handling the parameters and responses associated with the normal execution of a remote operation, ROSE deals with abnormal terminations. There are two ways in which abnormal termination can occur; the remote application entity can reject the operation on the grounds that the parameters are illegitimate, or it may find that, although the parameters are OK, the operation cannot be performed for some external reason.