Introduction

One of the splendid miseries of writing computer books is that you have to go out and get some practical experience about the subject. Many times this is possible, but occasionally it is not. Remoting is one of the few areas in this book where my experience is limited to nonproduction code, that is, sample applications. As I am writing this my colleagues and I are deliberating whether or not to use Web Services or .NET Remoting on a current project. Because we will unlikely be able to deploy clients or servers on the other end of the problem, Web Services will probably win. This brings us to the subject at hand. What is .NET Remoting and why should you care?

Remoting is the technology used to get two applications to interchange data. It is in the same category of problem and solution as CORBA and DCOM. Clearly Microsoft thinks that .NET Remoting is a best-of-category solution ” otherwise , why would we need something other than DCOM?

To help you understand .NET Remoting in a general sense, I will share a story with you that perhaps will help you understand the concept behind .NET Remoting and its technology. Afterward I will include several examples that deal with the nuts and bolts of remoting.