# Channel

The channel has the responsibility of transmitting all messages between client and object across the process boundary. The channel has been designed to work transparently with different channel types, is compatible with OSF DCE standard RPC, and supports single and multi-threaded applications.

# Microsoft RPC

RPC is a model for programming in a distributed computing environment. The goal of RPC is to provide transparent communication so that the client appears to be directly communicating with the server. Microsoft’s implementation of RPC is compatible with the Open Software Foundation (OSF) Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) RPC.

You can configure RPC to use one or more transports, one or more name services, and one or more security servers. The interface to those providers are handled by RPC. Because Microsoft RPC is designed to work with multiple providers, you can choose the providers that work best for your network. The transport is responsible for transmitting the data across the network. The name service takes an object name, such as a moniker, and finds its location on the network. The security server offers applications the option of denying access to specific users and/or groups. Refer to the section Interface Design for more detailed information about application security.

In addition to the RPC run-time libraries, Microsoft RPC includes the Interface Definition Language (IDL) and its compiler. Although the IDL file is a standard part of RPC, Microsoft has enhanced it to extend its functionality to support custom COM interfaces. The Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MIDL) compiler uses the IDL file that describes your custom interface to generate several files discussed in the section “Building a Proxy/Stub DLL.”