Abstract

This article analyses two most commonly used distributed models in Java: Web services and RMI (Remote Method Invocation). The paper focuses on regular (unsecured) as well as on secured variants, WS-Security and RMI–SSL. The most important functional differences are identified and the performance on two operating systems (Windows and Linux) is compared. Sources of performance differences related to the architecture and implementation are identified. The overheads related to the usage of security and the influences of JCE (Java Cryptography Extension) security providers on the performance of secured remote invocations are identified. Finally, the impact of distributed models on design and implementation of distributed applications is identified and guidelines for improving distributed application performance in design and implementation stage are provided. The paper contributes to the understanding of functional and performance related differences between Web services and RMI and their secure variants, WS-Security and RMI–SSL.

Keywords: Web services; WS-Security; RMI–SSL; RMI; Java; Performance

Article Outline

1. Introduction

2. Functional comparison of Web services and RMI

3. Performance analysis method

4. Performance analysis on single computer

4.1. Performance on Windows

4.2. Performance on Linux

4.3. Windows to Linux comparison

5. Performance analysis on networked computers

5.1. Performance on Windows

5.2. Performance on Linux

5.3. Windows to Linux comparison

6. Analysis and interpretation of results

6.1. Bottleneck identification

6.2. Impact on application design and implementation

7. Conclusion

References

Vitae