Distributed I/O Using an Object-Based Protocol

ID
TR-81-01
Authors
David R. Cheriton
Publishing date
January 1981
Abstract

The design of a distributed I/O system is described. The system is distributed in being implemented by server processes, client processes and a message communication mechanism between them. Data transfer between processes is achieved using a "connectionless" object-based protocol. The concept of file is generalized to that of a view of an object or activity managed by a server. This allows many objects, including application-defined objects, to be viewed or accessed within the program I/O paradigm. Files are instantiated as file instance objects to allow access to the associated data. Conventional byte-stream program input/output facilities are supported by a subroutine library which makes the message-based implementation transparent to applications.