Web and XML Glossary

RMI is an RPC mechanism enabling Java programmers to create distributed applications, in which the methods of remote Java objects can be invoked from another JVM, possibly on a different host. A Java program can make a call on a remote object once it obtains a reference to the remote object, either by looking up the remote object in the bootstrap naming service provided by RMI, or by receiving the reference as an argument or a return value. A Client can call a remote object in a Server, and that Server can also be a Client of other remote objects. RMI uses object serialization to marshal and unmarshal parameters and does not truncate types, supporting true object-oriented polymorphism.