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Sun RPC

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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Sun RPC, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 9 August 2025
Sun Microsystems
IndustryComputer software
Founded1982; 44 years ago (1982)
FounderVinod Khosla, Andy Bechtolsheim, Scott McNealy, Bill Joy
Headquarters
United States
ProductsOpen Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

Open Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Call (RPC), commonly referred to as Sun RPC, is a remote procedure call framework created by Sun Microsystems during the 1980s as a component of their Network File System initiative.

The ONC RPC framework adheres to Unix and C language calling conventions and employs External Data Representation (XDR) for data serialization, enabling interoperability between different platforms. It delivers XDR-encoded messages over either UDP or TCP. Access to RPC services is managed via a port mapper that operates on port 111 using both UDP and TCP protocols.

The initial definition of ONC RPC version 2 appeared in (April 1988), followed by revisions in (June 1988) and further enhancements in (August 1995); its current specification is outlined in (May 2009). Authentication mechanisms related to ONC RPC are specified in RFCs 2695, 2203, and 2623.

Most Unix-like operating systems natively support ONC RPC implementations. Microsoft offered an implementation for Windows through the now-obsolete Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX, alongside various third-party implementations available for C/C++, Java, and the .NET framework.

In 2009, Sun Microsystems reissued ONC RPC under the widely used 3-clause BSD license, a licensing update that was later confirmed by Oracle Corporation in 2010, thereby broadening its adoption potential within both commercial and open-source environments.

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