Middleware is a vague term that covers all the distributed software needed to support interactions between clients and servers. Middleware...
Middleware is a vague term that covers all the distributed software needed to support interactions between clients and servers. Middleware is the glue that lets a client obtain a service from the server.
Middleware can be divided into two classes, General Middleware and Service-specific middleware.
General Middleware:
It is the substrate for most client/server interactions. It includes the communication stacks, distributed directories, authentication services, remote procedure calls and queuing services. Products that fall into this category include, DCE, Netware, Named pipes, LAN Server, TCP/IP and NetBIOS. Also included Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) products from Peerlogic and IBM.
Service specific middleware:
This is needed to accomplish a particular client/server type of service. This includes,
Middleware can be divided into two classes, General Middleware and Service-specific middleware.
General Middleware:
It is the substrate for most client/server interactions. It includes the communication stacks, distributed directories, authentication services, remote procedure calls and queuing services. Products that fall into this category include, DCE, Netware, Named pipes, LAN Server, TCP/IP and NetBIOS. Also included Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) products from Peerlogic and IBM.
Service specific middleware:
This is needed to accomplish a particular client/server type of service. This includes,
- Database specific middleware such as ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), DRDA (Distributed Relational Database Architecture).
- OLTP specific middleware such as Tuxedo’s ATMI6.
- Groupware specific middleware such as Lotus Notes calls, MAPI and SMTP.
- Object specific middleware such as OMG’s CORBA and Microsoft’s Network OLE (or DCOM)
- Internet specific middleware such as HTTP and SSL.
- System management specific middleware such as SNMP and ORB’s.
