java RMI communication with non java entity?

Question

Is it possible to communicate with non java entity sing RMI protocol What is special about RMI IIOP?

Thx

Answer 1

It's technically possible. You will need to implement a RMI server on the non-java side.

I would not recommend it though. Try exploring the possibility of using WebServices, which is commonly used for that: communicating entities from (probably) different platforms.

Answer 2

RMI is protocol supposed to be purely used by Java applications. It put some requirements on communicating which depends on Java implementation (e.g. serialization). On the other hand RMI IIOP is protocol which is used by EJB implementation in order to add more functionality to communication (e.g. transaction context propagation).

IIOP is originally from CORBA and could be used to communicate with components written in other languages.

I wouldn't go Web Services route if you do need to use features available to IIOP. Unless, of course you'd use respective WS-* specifications to get them.