Novell Inc is adding direct support for Distributed Computing Environment services to its Tuxedo transaction processing system as Tuxedo/DCE. The new module will enable Distributed Computing Environment applications to be compiled and run under Tuxedo using X/Open Co Ltd’s TxRPC interface, the Transarc Corp-Digital Equipment Corp remote procedure call mechanism. The extension provides access to services, such as remote procedure calls, security and naming. Tuxedo already provides application programming interfaces to some services, plus connections to applications such as relational databases running on the environment. Use of the extension, built using Hewlett-Packard Co’s Distributed Computing Environment implementation, will be optional but it will be a standard component of Tuxedo and it does not replace X/Open Co Ltd’s XTAMI programming interface, which is based on Tuxedo’s alternative ‘Remote Procedure Call-like’ distributed mechanism. Tuxedo/DCE includes support for transactional Distributed Computing Environment Interface Definition Language and run-time routines that enable Distributed Computing code to be layered above and run by Tuxedo. Novell says an application written using TxRPc in Tuxedo/DCE can run Distributed Computing services on Tuxedo and can even be split to run part on Distributed Environment and part on Tuxedo. Applications can use more robust Distributed Computing services as they are delivered without having to be completely rewritten. New libraries will enable Tuxedo domains and Distributed Computing cells to communicate seamlessly. Support for other services, such as files services, threaded processing and additional ‘tight’ integration with Distributed Computing Environment, is expected next year. As, it believes, the environment does not yet offer adequate performance for transaction processing, Novell is positioning Tuxedo/DCE as a means of providing access to services and communications now, with a built-in ability to use the collection of utilities wholesale when it appears in a fully transaction-enabled form. Distributed Computing Environment, it maintains, is fine for general purpose application use, but was not designed with transaction processing in mind. Tuxedo’s Unix rival, the IBM Corp-owned Transarc Corp Distributed Computing Environment/Encina transaction processing environment, which enforces the use of Remote Procedure Call, simply cannot deliver a good transaction processing performance, Novell argues. DCE version 1.1, scheduled to ship at the end of November, will address some of these concerns. It includes the planned X/Open Generic Security Service application programming interface for distributed authentication, which X/Open adopted from the Internet Engineering Task Force, providing access to Distributed Environment security services without the need to use the Remote Procedure Call. Novell, an Open Software Foundation board member, also expects to be involved in future Distributed Computing Environment efforts. With XTAMI and TxPRC application programming interfaces already under its belt, Novell is seeking a third, object transactional application programming interface for use and is eyeing up the transaction processing object standard, which was was being voted on at Object Group’s Dublin meeting. Novell says it is not in the tool business and will not create its own Object Request Broker-type environment, but it is looking at Iona Technology Ltd-type technology. Initial versions of Tuxedo/DCE are out with Novell’s 40-odd Tuxedo source licensees, general shipments are due as part of a new packaged Tuxedo release in the next quarter, one of three additions Novell plans for the environment by the end of the year.
