The Design of a Reliable Remote Procedure Call Mechanism

In this correspondence we describe the design of a reliable Remote Procedure Call mechanism intended for use in local area networks. Starting from the hardware level that provides primitive facilities for data transmission, we describe how such a mechanism can be constructed. We discuss various design issues involved, including the choice of a message passing system over which the remote call mechanism is to be constructed and the treatment of various abnormal situations such as lost messages and node crashes. We also investigate what the reliability requirements of the Remote Procedure Call mechanism should be with respect to both the application programs using it and the message passing system on which it itself is based.