Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) : Alexander Day Chaffee

Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI)
Alexander Day Chaffee alexc@purpletech.com
Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee
Introduction
Java
Networking Distributed
Computing
Who is in Attendance?
Find
out any relevant background and interest of the audience Java Programmers? C++ Programmers? TCP/IP Gurus? Smalltalk?
Agenda
Background
APIs Q&A
and Usage
Overview
RMI
JDBC
CORBA
java.net
TCP/IP
Network OS
What Is RMI?
Access
to Remote Objects Java-to-Java only Client-Server Protocol High-level API Transparent Lightweight
Examples of Use
Database
access Computations Any custom protocol Not for standard protocols (HTTP, FTP, etc.)
Related Technologies
RPC

(Remote Procedure Calls)
Developed by Sun Platform-specific

(Common Object Request Broker Architecture)
CORBA

Developed by OMG Access to non-Java objects (as well as Java)

(Distributed Common Object Model)
DCOM

Developed by Microsoft Access to Win32 objects

(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
LDAP
Finding resources on a network

Part I: RMI Concepts
Remote Objects (Diagram)

Java Virtual Machine Java Virtual Machine
Client Object
TCP
Remote Object
RMI Layers
Java Virtual Machine Client Object Java Virtual Machine Remote Object
Stub
Skeleton
Remote Reference Layer
Transport Layer
TCP
Transport Layer
Remote Objects
Remote
Live
Objects
on server Accessed as if they were local
Registries
Name
and look up remote objects Servers can register their objects Clients can find server objects and obtain a remote reference A registry is a running process on a host machine
Remote References and Interfaces

Remote
Refer
References
to remote objects Invoked on client exactly like local object references

Remote
Interfaces
Declare
exposed methods Implemented on client Like a proxy for the remote object
Stubs and Skeletons

Stub
lives
on client pretends to be remote object

Skeleton
lives
on server receives requests from stub talks to true remote object delivers response to stub
Remote Interfaces and Stubs

Remote Interface
implements
implements
Client
Stub
Skeleton
Remote Object (Server)

Local
pointers not good enough Figures out which remote object is being referenced Could span multiple virtual machines Communicates via TCP/IP
Transport Layer
Deals
with communications Connection management Dispatching messages between stub and skeleton Distributed Garbage Collection Sits on top of java.net
HTTP Tunneling
Cool:
if it cant make the connection normally, it will tunnel through port 80 Allows clients behind firewall to make remote calls to server Note: does not work server -> client
RMI System Architecture

Client Virtual Machine Client Server Virtual Machine Remote Object
Stub
Skeleton Server
Fred Registry Virtual Machine

RMI Flow
1. Server Creates Remote Object Client Virtual Machine 2. Server Registers Remote Object Client Server Virtual Machine Remote Object
1
Stub
Skeleton Server
2

RMI Flow
Client Virtual Machine Client Server Virtual Machine Remote 3. Client requests object from Registry Object 4. Registry returns remote reference (and stub gets created) Stub
3 4
Skeleton Server

RMI Flow
Client Virtual Machine Client
5 6 7
Server Virtual Machine Remote Object
Stub
Skeleton Server
5. Client invokes stub method 6. Stub talks to skeleton 7. Skeleton invokes remote object Fred method Registry Virtual Machine
Part II: RMI Usage
Creating Remote Objects

Define
Define
a Remote Interface
java.rmi.Remote
extends
a class that implements the Remote Interface

extends
java.rmi.RemoteObject or java.rmi.UnicastRemoteObject
Remote Interface Example

import java.rmi.*; public interface Adder extends Remote { public int add(int x, int y) throws RemoteException; }
Remote Class Example

import java.rmi.*; import java.rmi.server.*; public class AdderImpl extends UnicastRemoteObject implements Adder { public AdderImpl() throws RemoteException { } public int add(int x, int y) throws RemoteException { return x + y; } }
Compiling Remote Classes

Compile
javac
reads
the Java class
.java file produces .class file Compile

rmic
reads
the Stub and Skeleton
.class file produces _Skel.class and _Stub.class

Compiling Remote Classes (Diagram)

Adder.java (interface)
javac
Adder.class (interface classfile)
AdderImpl_Skel.class (skeleton classfile)
AdderImpl.java (remote class)
javac
AdderImpl.class (classfile)
rmic
AdderImpl_Stub.class (stub classfile)

Registering Remote Classes

start
the registry
process
running
Unix:
rmiregistry &
Windows:
start /m rmiregistry
Registry CLASSPATH
Registry
VM needs to be able to find stub
file(s) You must set the CLASSPATH to include the directory containing the stub file
An easy way to check CLASSPATH is to use the javap command, supplying a fully package qualified class name. It uses the current CLASSPATH to find and print the interface to a class.
Or,
your server needs to specify the java.rmi.server.codebase System property (more later) Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee
Create the server

Creates
a new instance of the remote object Registers it in the registry with a unique name Thats it
RMI Server Example

try { AdderImpl adder = new AdderImpl(); Naming.rebind("adder", adder); System.out.println("Adder bound"); } catch (RemoteException re) { re.printStackTrace(); } catch (MalformedURLException me) { me.printStackTrace(); }
Launch the Server

% java AdderServer & Adder bound
Server Logging
invoke
from command line
java -Djava.rmi.server.logCalls=true YourServerImpl

or
enable inside program RemoteServer.setLog(System.err);
Creating an RMI Client

Install
to
a Security Manager
protect from malicious stubs
Find
a registry
java.rmi.Naming
use
Lookup
the name, returns a reference Cast the reference to the appropriate Remote Interface Just use it!
RMI URLs
rmi://host[:port]/name
default
port is 1099 Specifies hostname of registry can also use relative URLs
name
only assumes registry is on local host
RMI Client Example

System.setSecurityManager( new RMISecurityManager()); Adder a = (Adder) Naming.lookup("adder");
int sum = a.add(2,2); System.out.println("2+2=" + sum);
Remote Interfaces vs. Remote Classes

Remember
that the reference is to an
interface You must make references, arrays, etc. out of the interface type, not the implementation type You cant cast the remote reference to a normal reference So name your Remote Objects with Impl (so you dont get confused) Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee
Parameter Passing
Primitive
passed
types
by value
Remote
passed
objects
by reference
Non-remote
passed
objects
by value uses Java Object Serialization

Object Serialization
aka
Persistence saves the state (data) of a particular instance of an object serialize - to save unserialize - to load
Java Serialization
writes
object as a sequence of bytes writes it to a Stream recreates it on the other end creates a brand new object with the old data
java.io.Serializable
Objects
that implement the java.io.Serializable interface are marked as serializable Also subclasses Magically, all non-static and non-transient data members will be serialized Actually, its not magic, its Reflection (its done with mirrors) empty interface - just a marker Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee
Not All Objects Are Serializable

Any
object that doesnt implement Serializable Any object that would pose a security risk
e.g.
FileInputStream
Any
object whose value depends on VMspecific information

e.g.
Thread
Any
object that contains a (non-static, nontransient) unserializable object (recursively)

NotSerializableException
thrown
if you try to serialize or unserialize an unserializable object maybe you subclassed a Serializable object and added some unserializable members
Incompatible Changes
If
class has members added or removed, it becomes incompatible java.io.InvalidClassException thrown if you try to deserialize an incompatible object stream
Serial Version
If
the changes were actually compatible find out the Serial Version UID of the original class
use
the serialver utility
add
a member variable to the changed class its marked as compatible with the old
protected static final long serialVersionUID = -2215190743590612933L;
now
class
Using readObject
if
you need to force an object to be compatible implement readObject() method to make compatible changes
private void readObject(ObjectInputStream stream) throws java.io.IOException { defaultReadObject(stream); // do compatible stuff }
Callbacks
They
just work Pass in a remote reference to a client object Server object can call its methods transparently Registry is out of the loop
RMI Security
Server
is untrusted Stubs could be malicious rmic is OK, but someone could customcode an evil stub: its just a .class file
RMI Security Managers

AppletSecurityManager
stub
can only do what an applet can do
RMISecurityManager
disables
all functions except class definition and access A downloaded class is allowed to make a connection if the connection was initiated via the RMI transport.
None
Stub
loading disabled Stubs still work if they are in local classpath
Codebase Property
Stub
3
classpaths can be confusing
VMs, each with its own classpath Server vs. Registry vs. Client
The
RMI class loader always loads stubs from the CLASSPATH first Next, it tries downloading classes from a web server
(but
only if a security manager is in force)
java.rmi.server.codebase
specifies which web

server
Stub File Configuration

The
best way to configure it is as follows.
NEVER have stub class files in ANY classpath make the stub files accessible via a web server set the java.rmi.server.codebase property, in the application creating the server object, to the web server's URL
The
stubs will be downloaded from your HTTP server on demand

(Thanks to Kevin.Conner@UK.Sun.COM for advice)
Codebase and Thread Safety

Theres
a thread problem with codebase With a single remote server, and multiple remote objects on that server, each with its own stub codebase One server can step on the codebase property and foul up the registration for the other server In practice, wont happen very often
More
likely to happen in servlets
Limitations of RMI
Java-only
but
you can use JNI on the server
Uses
TCP, not UDP At least two sockets per connection Untested for huge loads
RMI vs. COM

Very
similar remote interfaces ~ type libraries COM is Win32-only (for now)
Sun vs. Microsoft

RMI
is not shipped as part of Microsofts products RMI will still work in applications
include
java.rmi.* class files in your classpath download rmi.zip from ftp.microsoft.com

RMI
will work in applets
include
java.rmi.* class files (or rmi.zip) in your codebase IE4: only if theyre signed extra download time
Part III: RMI Chat Server
RMI Chat Server Objects

Message
interface interface
MessageReceiver
- receiveMessage(Message)
ChatServer
- login(MessageReceiver) - sendMessage(Message)
ChatClient
ChatServerImpl
implements remote reference local reference
Dispatcher
MessageQueue
Summary
RMI
is a very clean API Easy way to write distributed programs Wire protocol may need improvement for large-scale problems
Where to get more information

Other
training sessions Harold, Java Network Programming (OReilly) rmi-users mailing list (rmi-users@javasoft.com) http://www.developer.com/ (Gamelan) http://www.javaworld.com/ (magazine) http://www.stinky.com/java/ (Authors site)
Q&A
Feedback
Request
feedback of training session

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Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI)

Alexander Day Chaffee alexc@purpletech.com

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

(Remote Procedure Calls)

Developed by Sun Platform-specific

Developed by OMG Access to non-Java objects (as well as Java)

Developed by Microsoft Access to Win32 objects

Finding resources on a network

Part I: RMI Concepts

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Remote Objects (Diagram)

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Remote Reference Layer

Remote Reference Layer

on server Accessed as if they were local

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Remote References and Interfaces

to remote objects Invoked on client exactly like local object references

Stubs and Skeletons

on client pretends to be remote object

Remote Interfaces and Stubs

Remote Object (Server)

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Remote Reference Layer

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

RMI System Architecture

Fred Registry Virtual Machine

Fred Registry Virtual Machine

Fred Registry Virtual Machine

Server Virtual Machine Remote Object

Part II: RMI Usage

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Creating Remote Objects

a class that implements the Remote Interface

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Remote Interface Example

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Remote Class Example

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

Compiling Remote Classes

the Java class

.java file produces .class file Compile

the Stub and Skeleton

.class file produces _Skel.class and _Stub.class

Compiling Remote Classes (Diagram)

Adder.class (interface classfile)

AdderImpl_Skel.class (skeleton classfile)

AdderImpl.java (remote class)

AdderImpl_Stub.class (stub classfile)

Registering Remote Classes

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

VM needs to be able to find stub

Create the server

Copyright 1997 Alex Chaffee

RMI Server Example