Remote Procedure Calls
Table of Contents
1. Overview
1.1. Definition
Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) are protocols that allow a program to execute a procedure in another address space, commonly on a different physical machine.
1.2. Components:
- Client: The program that calls the procedure.
- Server: The program that executes the procedure.
- Communication Protocol: The method used for data exchange, often including serialization of data (e.g., JSON, XML).
1.3. Mechanism:
- The client sends a request to the server.
- The server processes the request and sends a response back.
- Typically involves network communication methods such as TCP/IP.
1.4. Types of RPC:
- gRPC:
- Utilizes HTTP/2 for transport.
- Supports multiple programming languages.
- Features tools for automatic code generation.
- XML-RPC:
- Encodes RPC calls in XML format.
- More verbose due to XML, which can increase overhead.
- Simpler implementation and more human-readable.
- JSON-RPC:
- Similar to XML-RPC, but uses JSON for encoding.
- Generally more lightweight than XML.
- Suitable for web applications and easier for JavaScript integration.
1.4.1. Comparisons:
- Performance:
- gRPC often outperforms XML-RPC and JSON-RPC due to binary serialization and multiplexing capabilities.
- Ease of Use:
- JSON-RPC may be easier for web developers due to JSON's prevalence in web APIs.
- Language Support:
- gRPC has extensive language support and is well-documented, whereas XML-RPC and JSON-RPC could be limited in terms of language bindings.
- Best Use Case:
- gRPC is favored for microservices, whereas XML-RPC and JSON-RPC are more commonly utilized for lightweight web services.
1.5. Use Cases:
- Microservices architectures.
- Distributed computing systems.
- Remote database access.
- Cloud services and APIs.