Java RMI, RMI tunneling and Web services comparison and performance analysis

Abstract

This article compares different approaches for developing Java distributed applications which have to communicate through firewalls and proxies, including RMI over open ports, HTTP-to-port, HTTP-to-CGI, HTTP-to-servlet tunneling and web services. A functional comparison of approaches has been done, as well as a detailed performance analysis with overhead analysis and identification of optimizations. Therefore the paper contributes to the overall understanding of different approaches for developing Java distributed applications in circumstances, where the communication through firewalls and/or proxies is inevitable. The paper also contributes to the understanding of performance related issues.