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Architectural Overview of DCE

OSF's Distributed Computing Environment is a layer between the operating system and network on the one hand, and the distributed application on the other. DCE provides the services that allow a distributed application to interact with a collection of possibly heterogeneous computers, operating systems, and networks as if they were a single system. The following figure shows DCE in relation to operating systems, network communications software, and applications software.


Layering of DCE and Related Software

Several technology components work together to implement the DCE layer. Many of these components provide in a distributed environment what an operating system provides in a centralized (single-node) environment.

The following figure shows the DCE architecture and its technology components, along with their relationship to applications, underlying system support, and placeholders for future technologies.


DCE Architecture

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Overview of DCE Technology Components

The DCE Cell

Integration of the DCE Technology Components

Relationship of DCE to Network and System Services

DCE Internationalization