Preface

The Network Interfaces Programmer's Guide describes the primary facilities for implementing distributed applications.

All utilities, their options, and library functions in this manual reflect the current Solaris^(TM) system software developed by SunSoft Inc. If you are using a previous version of Solaris system software, some utilities and library functions may function differently.

Who Should Use This Book

The guide assists you in:

• Converting an existing single-computer application to a networked, distributed application
• Designing a distributed application
• Implementing a distributed application
• Maintaining a distributed application in the Solaris operating system

Use of this guide assumes basic competence in programming, a working familiarity with the C programming language, and a working familiarity with the UNIX^(R) operating system. Previous experience in network programming is helpful, but is not required to use this manual.

How This Book Is Organized

Part One--Introduction Chapter 1, "Introduction to Network Interfaces," gives a high-level introduction to networking concepts and the topics covered in this book.

Part Two--Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Chapter 2, "Introduction to Remote Procedure Call (RPC)," describes the basic model of RPC and its use in developing distributed applications.

Chapter 3, "rpcgen Programming Guide," describes how the rpcgen tool generates client and server stubs. The RPC compiler generates standard TI-RPC code and distributes the specified procedure to the application.

Chapter 4, "RPC Programming Guide," describes the use of RPC in the programming environment.

Part Three--Transport Layer Chapter 5, "Transport Selection and Name-to-Address Mapping," describes the network selection mechanisms used by applications in selecting a network transport and its configuration.

Chapter 6, "Transport -level Interface (TLI) Programming Guide," describes the UNIX System Transport Interface.

Chapter 7, "Socket Interface," describes the socket interface at the transport layer.

Part Four--Naming Services Chapter 8, "NIS+ Programming Guide," describes the NIS + programming interface.

Part Five--Appendixes Appendix A, "XDR Protocol Specification," describes the XDR protocol and language.

Appendix B, "XDR Technical Note," describes XDR and how it is used in data formatting and type conversion. These services may be utilized not only by distributed applications, but in any application in which common or uniform data representation is necessary.

Appendix C, "RPC Protocol and Language Specification," describes the protocol of RPC usage, both syntax and limitations.

Appendix D, "Writing a Port Monitor With the Service Access Facility (SAF)," describes the process of writing a port monitor application under the SAF and is included as a reference for applications development.

Appendix E, "The portmap Utility," describes the portmap utility and its function. This appendix is included in this document to aid migrating applications written to run on earlier releases of SunOS.

Appendix F, "Live RPC Code Examples," contains complete functional listings of some of the code included in the document as examples. These modules are furnished under the proviso stated at the beginning of the appendix.

Related Books

The following Solaris information products further explore a variety of related topics discussed in this book. You may want to reference the following on-line System AnswerBook^(R) products:

• Solaris 2.4 Reference Manual AnswerBook
• Solaris 2.4 Software Developer AnswerBook
• Solaris 2.4 System Administrator AnswerBook

For network-related topics the following book may be helpful:

• TCP/IP Network Administration Guide

For RPC-related topics, the following books are recommended:

• Multithreaded Programming Guide
• Security, Performance, and Accounting Administration

For NIS+, the following books provide complementary topics:

• Name Services Administration Guide
• Name Services Configuration Guide
• NIS+ Transition Guide

What Typographic Changes and Symbols Mean

The following table describes the type changes and symbols used in this book.

Table P-1

Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
AaBbCc123	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your .login file. Use ls -a to list all files. system% You have mail.
AaBbCc123	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	system%su Password:
AaBbCc123	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type rm filename.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words or terms, or words to be emphasized	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.
Code samples are included in boxes and may display the following:
%	UNIX C shell prompt	system%
$	UNIX Bourne and Korn shell prompt	system$
#	Superuser prompt, all shells	system#