Abstract

We propose an interface for use from within UNIX user programs for communicating over multiple and varied local and wide area networks. This interface aids the design of a distributed application program by hiding the actual communications protocols used over each network, and providing instead simple primitives for sending and receiving (possibly large) datagrams, using a simple standardized network addressing scheme based on a (host number, port number) pair. This interface has been designed principally for use by the Newcastle Connection, a software subsystem which is used to construct the UNIX United distributed system; however, this interface may well fulfill the needs of a large class of transaction-oriented applications of UNIX. Comparisone are made with various alternative approaches to network interfacing, including the Xerox Pup communications architecture, the "Clean and Simple" approach of University College, London, and the socket scheme developed for Berkeley UNIX.

Keywords

Datagram, network protocols, networks, Newcastle Connection, UNIX.