DCOM Explained
by Rosemary Rock-Evans
Digital Press
ISBN: 1555582168   Pub Date: 09/01/98

Preface
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1—Introduction to This Book
What Is This Book About?
Who Is It For?
Any Bias?

Chapter 2—What Is DCOM?
DCOM Is Middleware
DCOM and Other Types of Middleware

Chapter 3—Main Concepts Used in DCOM
GUID
Classes, Objects, and Components
CLSID
Interface
Polymorphism and Encapsulation
Inheritance
Interface Containment and Aggregation
IUnknown Interface
Monikers

Chapter 4—The Main Services of DCOM
COM Interface
Windows NT
MS RPC
MTS (Microsoft Transaction Server)
Cedar
MSMQ (Microsoft Message Queue Server)
LDAP/ADSI and the Active Directory
Security Services
OLEMSGing
In Summary

Chapter 5—COM
Application
Client
Server
IDL-Interface Definition Language
MIDL Compiler
Proxies and Stubs
Vtables
Type Library
IDispatch
In Summary

Chapter 6—ActiveX
About ActiveX
Languages of Development
ActiveX and Standardization
The Component Market
Tools
Visual Studio 97
Other Tools

Chapter 7—MS RPC
What Is an RPC?
And MS RPC?
What Does MS RPC Do?
MS RPCs and Interfaces
MS RPC and DCOM
MS RPC and DCE RPC
So What Is DCE?
DCE Services
The Functions of the RPC Service
In Summary

Chapter 8—Cedar
What Is Cedar?
What About Data Conversion?
And What About CICS Calls?
Any Other Functions?
Why Not Use DCOM on MVS?
In Summary

Chapter 9—Other Communication Functions
Triggering
Context Bridging
Broadcasting and Multicasting
In Summary

Chapter 10—DCOM and Windows NT
About Windows NT
Windows NT and DCOM
Multithreading
Distributed File Services
Memory Management
Shared Memory
Timing Services
In Summary

Chapter 11—DCOM and Other Platform Support
What Platforms?
What Is Provided?
Concepts Supported
Services Supported
Wrapping
In Summary

Chapter 12—DCOM and the Internet
How Do Other Middleware Vendors Provide Internet Support?
Internet Technology Explained
Other Middleware Vendors’ Support for the Internet
Microsoft and the Internet
In Summary

Chapter 13—Microsoft Transaction Server
A Bit of Background
An Overview of the Services Provided with MTS
Buffer Pool Management
Automatic Multithreading
Load Balancing
Shared Property Manager
Triggering
Support for Asynchronous Processing
Distributed Transaction Processing Support
In Summary

Chapter 14—MSMQ (Falcon)
Message Passing vs. Message Queuing
What Is MSMQ?
MSMQ Information Store
Queues
Polling, Pulling, and Notification
Message Prioritization
Message Content
Session Handling
Broadcasting and Multicasting
Guaranteed Delivery/Delivery Assurance
Deferred Delivery
Message Routing
In Summary

Chapter 15—OLE DB and Active Data Objects
Back to Basics-Storing Data
Database Connectivity Middleware
So What Does Database Connectivity Middleware Really Do?
Microsoft and Database Connectivity
In Summary

Chapter 16—Security
What Are the Risks?
Policy Setting
The Functions of Protection
The Mechanisms of Protection
Third-Party Security Products (Which Microsoft Uses)
Microsoft’s Products and Services
In Summary

Chapter 17—Directory Services
What Is a Directory?
Microsoft’s Directory Services
Active Directory
In Summary

Chapter 18—Administration
The Range of Tools
Installation
Configuration
Event/Problem Monitoring, Capture, and Diagnosis
Performance Monitoring
In Summary

Chapter 19—In Summary
The Strengths of DCOM
The Weaknesses of DCOM
So Overall?
Index