OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Introduction and Style Guide

OSF DCE Application Development Guide—Introduction and Style Guide
If a client makes a remote procedure call to a host without providing an endpoint, the
dced searches its endpoint map for the endpoint of a compatible server. Upon finding a
suitable endpoint, the endpoint mapper service (depending on the protocols used)
forwards the call to that endpoint or returns the endpoint to the client’s runtime, which
sends the call to the server at that endpoint.
Other remote services of dced include host data management, server control, security
validation, and key table management. These are described in detail in the .
1.3.6 The DCE API
DCE provides a wide range of application programming interface routines. All of the
following are available:
• A set of general DCE routines routines provide the means for configuration, handling
messages, using the backing store, and managing the DCE daemon, as well as other
purposes.
• The DCE thread routines provide thread control, including thread creation,
conditional waiting, priorities, and locks.
• The DCE remote procedure call routines provide tools to establish and manage
servers, and also include utilities for use by clients and by servers.
• The DCE directory service routines are a set of X/OPEN directory service routines
that provide access to the Global Directory Service (GDS) and CDS.
• The DCE distributed time service routines obtain timestamps, translate between
timestamp formats, and perform time calculations. The routines can be used from
server or clerk systems to determine event sequencing, duration, and scheduling.
• The DCE security service routines allow developers to create network services with
complete access to all the authentication and authorization capabilities of DCE
Security Service and facilities.
1.3.7 The DCE Control Program
Although the DCE control program, dcecp, is intended as an administrator’s tool,
developers will find it invaluable for examining and modifing many aspects of the DCE
environment. It can be used in constructing installation scripts, as in the following
examples:
• For exporting binding information to a namespace, instead of putting C code in your
application to call the NSI routines, rpc_ns_*(), you could write a dcecp script that
calls rpcentry export and its related commands.
• For installation, you might need to create a principal name and/or set an access
control list (ACL) on it. Instead of writing C code in your application’s initialization
section to call sec_rgy_pgo_*() and sec_acl_*(), you could ship a dcecp script that
1− 8 Tandem Computers Incorporated 124246