Remote Procedure Call (RPC) implements a client-server model of task interaction. In this model, client tasks request services of server tasks, and then wait for their reply. RPC formalizes this model and provides a standard protocol for passing requests and returning replies. Thus, a VxWorks or host system client task can request services from VxWorks or the host servers in any combination.

Internally, RPC uses sockets as the underlying communication mechanism. RPC, in turn, is used in the implementation of several higher-level facilities, including the Network File System (NFS) and remote source-level debugging. Also, RPC includes utilities to help generate the client interface routines and the server skeleton.

The VxWorks implementation of RPC is task-specific. Each task must call rpcTaskInit( ) before making any RPC-related calls.

The VxWorks implementation of RPC was originally designed by Sun Microsystems and is in the public domain. For more information, see the public domain RPC documentation (supplied in source form in the directories target/unsupported/rpc4.0/doc and target/unsupported/rpc4.0/man), and the reference entry for rpcLib.