P4L1 - Remote Procedure Calls 01

What is the focus of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)?

Implementing socket-based APIs
Providing low-level mechanisms for basic data movements
Specifying protocols for address space communication
Defining the semantics of data operations (correct)

Why are RPCs considered a higher-level mechanism compared to basic inter-process communication methods?

They provide a procedure call interface for processes (correct)
They focus on complex data manipulations
They emphasize the protocols involved in data transfer
They utilize socket-based APIs exclusively

In the context of RPCs, what role does the Birrell and Nelson paper 'Implementing Remote Procedure Calls' play?

It introduces a new protocol for address space communication
It focuses on socket programming mechanisms
It discusses the general design space of RPC (correct)
It provides a specific implementation of Sun RPC

Which of the following best describes Sun RPC in relation to Remote Procedure Calls?

It is a concrete implementation commonly used in operating systems (C) Signup and view all the answers

How do Remote Procedure Calls simplify the interaction between client and server compared to socket-based APIs?

By providing a more abstract procedure call interface (C) Signup and view all the answers

What distinguishes RPCs from basic inter-process communication mechanisms like sockets?

RPCs involve interaction via procedure calls (B) Signup and view all the answers

What happens when the client makes an actual remote procedure call?

The client stub creates a buffer for the result (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which step involves creating a data buffer and populating it with argument values passed to the procedure call?

Marshalling arguments (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the server stub do during the RPC process?

Performs the operation (B) Signup and view all the answers

In RPC, what is necessary for a client to bind with a server?

Server must announce what procedures it can perform and required arguments (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is one purpose of Interface Definition Languages (IDL) in RPC systems?

To automate the process of generating server stub functionality (C) Signup and view all the answers

What happens after the server stub 'unmarshalls' the data during an RPC?

The actual procedure call is made by the server (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is done during marshalling in RPC?

Transmitting arguments as a contiguous buffer (C) Signup and view all the answers

Why is it important for servers to execute a registration step when operating in RPC?

To announce what procedures can be performed and what arguments are required (D) Signup and view all the answers

What must happen before client and server can interact in an RPC system?

Server must announce its procedures and required arguments (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does 'unmarshalling' involve in an RPC interaction?

Extracting arguments from a byte stream on the server side (C) Signup and view all the answers

What led to the development of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)?

The need for simplifying the development of distributed applications (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is one key difference in the requirements of a client-server application that uploads images compared to a regular RPC system?

The need for specifying algorithms and relevant parameters (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is one goal of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) with regards to system software requirements?

Simplifying the development of distributed applications (A) Signup and view all the answers

What type of semantics are required from Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)?

Synchronous call semantics, similar to regular procedure calls (D) Signup and view all the answers

How do Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) handle type checking?

By optimizing implementation through type checking mechanisms (D) Signup and view all the answers

What was a major issue that led to the development of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)?

Common steps related to remote inter-process communications needing re-implementation (B) Signup and view all the answers

Why was the term Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) coined?

To simplify the development of distributed applications underneath a procedure call interface (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is one requirement from the system software that provides support for Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)?

Matching client-server interactions (A) Signup and view all the answers

Why do Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) hide complexities from developers?

To hide complexities of cross machine interactions (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is a distinguishing feature of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) compared to regular procedure calls?

Synchronization similar to regular procedure calls (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the encoding mentioned in the text?

To specify the data layout when serialized in a byte stream for readability. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of marshalling and unmarshalling routines in the RPC system?

Parse byte streams and initialize data structures. (B) Signup and view all the answers

How are variables i and j affected by the unmarshalling process?

They are initialized to values from the message received by the server. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of binding in an RPC system?

To determine how to connect to a server. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What analogy is used to describe the registry in an RPC system?

The yellow pages where services are listed with contact details. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Why does an RPC system typically include a special compiler?

To automate the generation of marshalling and unmarshalling routines. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What information does the registry provide to clients in an RPC system?

The best match based on protocol, version number, etc. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'marshalling' refer to in an RPC system?

The packaging of procedure arguments into a byte stream for transmission. (A) Signup and view all the answers

How is the 'yellow pages' analogy used in relation to an RPC system registry?

It simplifies service lookup based on service names, protocol, and version number. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which action would typically be automated in marshalling code based on the text?

Representing arrays appropriately when encoded in a byte stream. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key purpose of using binding and registries by applications when they use RPCs?

To execute some service by looking up the registry to find who can provide a particular service (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key difference between passing a pointer as an argument in a regular procedure versus an RPC procedure?

The RPC runtime generates marshalling code to copy the referenced data into the send buffer (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the interface definition language mentioned in the context of RPCs?

To describe the interfaces in a standard way so the registry can provide details about the services (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the first solution mentioned in the text for handling the use of pointers as arguments in RPC procedures?

Pointers are not allowed to be used as arguments in RPC procedures (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the second solution mentioned in the text for handling the use of pointers as arguments in RPC procedures?

The RPC runtime generates marshalling code to copy the referenced data (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key focus of the discussion on errors and fault handling in the context of RPCs?

Addressing the tricky issue of using pointers as arguments in RPC procedures (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key difference between how pointers are used in regular local procedures versus RPC procedures?

The RPC runtime generates marshalling code to copy the referenced data (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the registry in the context of RPCs, as described in the text?

To provide details about the various services that are provided by each server, including version numbers and supported protocols (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key purpose of using an interface definition language in the context of RPCs, as described in the text?

To describe the interfaces in a standard way so the registry can provide details about the services (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the overall purpose of the discussion on binding and registries in the context of RPCs, as presented in the text?

To illustrate how toy shops rely on directories of outsourcing services as an analogy for how applications use binding and registries in RPCs (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of an Interface Definition Language (IDL) in Remote Procedure Call (RPC) systems?

To specify the interface that a server exports, including procedure names, argument types, and result types (C) Signup and view all the answers

Why is the version number important in an IDL specification?

It helps clients identify the most current server implementation when multiple servers perform the same operation (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the advantage of using a language-specific IDL, such as Java in Java RMI, over a language-agnostic IDL like XDR?

Programmers familiar with the language do not need to learn a new set of rules for defining data structures and procedures (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of marshalling in RPC systems?

To convert the procedure arguments into a format that can be transmitted over the network (C) Signup and view all the answers

How might an array be marshalled in an RPC system?

Both (a) and (b) are valid ways of marshalling an array (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the RPC runtime in the marshalling process?

To perform the actual marshalling of procedure arguments into a contiguous buffer (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following statements about the IDL is true?

The IDL is used by the RPC system for tasks like automating stub generation and marshalling (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the service discovery process in RPC systems?

To locate the server process that can handle a particular client request (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a task performed by the RPC runtime?

Implementing the actual server procedures (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the client and server stubs in an RPC system?

To provide a high-level interface for the client and server processes to communicate with each other (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of the RPC system?

To simplify communication programming aspects (D) Signup and view all the answers

In the RPC system, what is the responsibility of the client stub?

Creating and populating the buffer with necessary information (C) Signup and view all the answers

How does the RPC system handle server unresponsiveness?

Client retries the request with another server replica (D) Signup and view all the answers

What type of operations can the client perform in the provided example using RPC?

Arithmetic operations (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which part of the RPC system knows how to parse and interpret received bytes on the server side?

Server stub (C) Signup and view all the answers

What appears as a real function but performs entirely different tasks internally in the RPC system?

add() procedure (B) Signup and view all the answers

How does the execution flow differ in a regular program compared to an RPC program when a procedure call is made?

Execution jumps to another location in memory (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is NOT a responsibility of the RPC runtime?

Performing actual arithmetic operations (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary reason why RPC systems typically try to introduce a new type of error notification instead of providing the exact details of what went wrong?

To minimize the overhead and complexity of troubleshooting RPC failures (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a potential cause of problems in a remote procedure call mentioned in the text?

The client machine may have crashed (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of using an interface definition language (IDL) in an RPC system, according to the text?

To determine how to package arguments and results being exchanged between the client and server (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main reason given in the text for why RPC systems should either completely disallow the use of pointers as arguments or provide built-in support to serialize the data being pointed to?

To simplify the implementation of the RPC runtime and make it more reliable (C) Signup and view all the answers

What does the text mean when it says that RPC systems provide a catch all for all types of errors or failures that can potentially happen during an RPC call?

RPC systems categorize all possible RPC failures into a few broad error types or exceptions (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is one of the key design choices that can be made when implementing an RPC system?

Whether to use a distributed or per-machine registry for binding clients to servers (B) Signup and view all the answers

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