The Network Is The Computer TM

Java TM Is The Platform

Remote Method Invocation (RMI) enables the programmer to create distributed Java^TM technology-based to Java technology-based applications, in which the methods of remote Java objects can be invoked from other Java virtual machines*, possibly on different hosts. A Java technology-based program can make a call on a remote object once it obtains a reference to the remote object, either by looking up the remote object in the bootstrap naming service provided by RMI or by receiving the reference as an argument or a return value. A client can call a remote object in a server, and that server can also be a client of other remote objects. RMI uses object serialization to marshal and unmarshal parameters and does not truncate types, supporting true object-oriented polymorphism.

NEW! Take a look at the SECOND draft of the Java^TM RMI Security Extension specification, in either PostScript^TM or PDF.

There are three releases:

• Java^TM 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v1.2 contains many new RMI enhancements including activation and the capability for RMI to use custom socket protocols. Check out the Java 2 SDK v1.2 RMI Enhancements page for further details.
• JDK 1.1 includes core support for RMI. RMI applets developed with this release can be run with the appletviewer. Full support in other browsers will be available as licensees support JDK 1.1. See the JDK 1.1 RMI Documentation for complete details.

• RMI on JDK 1.0.2 was an interim release only. This release superseded the Prebeta release, and allowed applets to be run in the appletviewer, a special RMI version of the HotJava^TM browser, and Netscape^TM 3.01, which was JDK 1.0.2 based. This release provided the same RMI APIs as the JDK1.1 release.

Object Serialization extends the technology core Java technology Input/Output classes with support for objects. Object Serialization supports the encoding of objects and the objects reachable from them into a stream of bytes and it supports the complementary reconstruction of the object graph from the stream. Serialization is used for lightweight persistence and for communication via sockets or Remote Method Invocation (RMI). The default encoding of objects protects private and transient data, and supports the evolution of the classes. A class may implement its own external encoding and is then solely responsible for the external format. Available as part of Java 2, JDK 1.1 and RMI on JDK 1.0.2 software.

For More Information About Java ^TM RMI technology

Getting Started
Using Custom Socket Factories
RMI and SSL
Documentation
Examples - Real World Applications using Java^TM RMI technology
Specification
White Paper
FAQ
Archive of RMI-USERS Mailing List

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