dce/rpc "client" api

[Gerald Carter]

jeremy at valinux.com wrote:
> 
> > how do you propose to implement DCE/RPC over 
> > TCP services in the absence of the server 
> > providing such services?
> 
> People who want to use the Samba DCE code in such
> servers will have to write the framework to provide
> the complete PDU's to the Samba shared libraries.
> 
> I neither know nor care how much work they'll have
> to do to implement this.
> 
> We're providing the best solution *FOR SAMBA* - not
> for anyone else right now. After lots of dicsussion
> Andrew suggested the shared library approach for Samba
> instead of the separate daemon approach. I'm not going
> to re-hash those discussions here - check the mail
> archives for details. As technical lead and chief 
> architect of Samba it is his decision to make, and 
> I concurr with it.
> 
> If you want to write or extract the framework code from
> Samba to make DCE/RPC over straight TCP (or even NetWare IPX
> if you like) work then go for it - but it isn't the solution
> we've decided to use in the main Samba code.

I've a couple of points to make here.

(1) The initial thread starting started out (and is 
still named a "client" api.  In my mind, this is entirely
separate from Samba's implementation.  I realize that
Samba is a the primary consumer at the moment.  Jeremy's
point is that Samba should support dce/rpc over SMB only.
This is the same type of choice as saying "Samba supports
netbios over TCP/IP over...not IPX support."

(2) The choice of only supporting dce/rpc over SMB 
in Samba does not limit, not hinder, the development of
Luke's proposal for dce/rpc over (for example) TCP.

Suppose something like and exchange implementation
used dce/rpc over TCP.  It would be possible for
for the dce/rpc TCP endport mapper to direct 
requests to the appropriate location without interfering
with a locally running Samba server.

In my mind, Luke's desire for an dce/rpc development 
environment is much broader than Samba's needs.  That's 
ok.  Samba can implement the subset necessary to provide
the service our users want.  The two goals do not conflict
with each other once we realize that they are separate 
goals.  

Conclusion : Samba will support dce/rpc over SMB.  Luke 
is free to continue to development support for over 
transports in a framework that allows others to build on top
of it.  Samba will implement its own framework based upon 
the knowledge that Luke has gained.

Question : Is there any instance where Samba would 
need to support (for the sake of a client) dce/rpc
over TCP?  I have to traces to verify this.





Cheers, jerry
----------------------------------------------------------------------
   /\  Gerald (Jerry) Carter                     Professional Services
 \/    http://www.valinux.com  VA Linux Systems    gcarter at valinux.com
       http://www.samba.org       SAMBA Team           jerry at samba.org
       http://www.eng.auburn.edu/~cartegw

       "...a hundred billion castaways looking for a home."
                                - Sting "Message in a Bottle" ( 1979 )