CloserLook
SimpleIPC 1.0
Isolate errors in .NET remoting applications
By Anand Narayanaswamy
SimpleIPC
Rating: 4stars (out of 5)
Website:http://www.cognitier.com
Price: $299
Traditional .NET Framework applications communicateover the database located in the same system or over a LAN. But .NET remotingapplications share and exchange data across networks in a distributedclient-server architecture. Hence, there should be some kind of fault-tolerancemechanism in place in case the application throws an error during the communicationprocess. SimpleIPC, developed by Dallas-based Cognitier, isolates all exceptions to aseparate process without causing any interruption to the main project.
SimpleIPC Overview
The main function of SimpleIPC is to keep unhandledexceptions and subsequent process crashes out of your main web applicationprocess. This mechanism will help your application run without interruption byrepeating the call against a different external process, thus causing no impactfor your end users. To work with the product, developers should write serverand client code separately. Although the server code is used to run inside theIPC server, the client code is incorporated into your client application forexchanging information with the IPC server, which can either be a Windows Formsproject or an ASP.NET page.
The server routines are written either using C# orVisual Basic and mainly consist of functions, which form the core part of yourapplication, as the resulting client project makes a call to the functionsmentioned in the server routine. You just need to establish references tocertain DLLs included with the product and implement certain interfaces if youhave Visual Studio 2008. If you don't have Visual Studio, you can use the GUI-basedscript editor utility included with the product to author and compile DLLs inJscript.NET as well as templates that automatically add references to your project.
Figure 1: Codingscripts
In addition to providing the editor, SimpleIPC alsolets you tweak system, server, and logic settings and management of routinesand events. Moreover, the product supports advanced mechanisms such asthrottling, caching, and object pooling. These features are meant to make applicationssecure and enable them to load faster with great efficiency.
Figure 2: Efficientevent management
Monitoring .NET Remoting
SimpleIPC smartly acts like a middle layer on thetop of .NET remoting that monitors the output of your application viareflection at runtime. Exceptions are isolated in IPC Server, so that your mainapplication will run without any interruption. As a developer, you have toregister your custom code modules at design time, and the product analyzes yourDLL to determine the class names.
While the client code passes through .NET, theadditional layers accommodate clients using Java, COM, or web services.Moreover, the permission to activate and access servers is controlled viamembership in designated local computer groups, which I hope will enhancesecurity. The product also enables you to define inputs and run tests with aconfigurable number of simulated clients making a configurable number ofinvocations each through various programming APIs.
Figure 3: Fine-tuningyour applications by testing
The product also recycles frequently in case yourcode has memory leakage, thus enabling you to control memory consumption. I expectthat this feature will be highly useful for resource-intensive applications.Moreover, developers will be able to call the server code in a Java clientapplication through COM using the product. The product team has provided anarticle at http://www.cognitier.com/downloads/ServletWordDocSample.pdfthat examines this concept in a comprehensive manner.
SimpleIPC includes comprehensive documentation inPDF format, which you can download at http://www.cognitier.com/All-Docs_ep_66.html.I found it little difficult to understand the content, but the support teamprovided excellent assistance within one business day. Cognitier also providesexercises and articles that include step-by-step solutions to reproduceprocedures, along with complete source code and screenshots. I don't recommendedSimpleIPC for beginners because they wouldn't use it in the scenarios for whichit was developed. I suggest that the vendor create exercises in video format tohelp developers more easily understand how the product works.
Error-Prevention Tool
SimpleIPC should be useful for developers who areengaged in the development of advanced distributed projects in which runtimeerrors can be fatal for their applications' performance and stability. If youdon't want any unforeseen events to occur during an application's life cycle, Isuggest you invest in SimpleIPC.
Anand Narayanaswamy (visualanand@gmail.com)is a Microsoft MVP who works as an independent consultant based in Trivandrum,India, and runs http://www.learnxpress.com.