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Differences Between IPC Mechanisms on a Single System vs

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37 views3 pages

Differences Between IPC Mechanisms on a Single System vs

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karunakar
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Differences Between IPC Mechanisms on a Single System vs.

IPC Between
Different Systems

Interprocess Communication (IPC) enables processes to exchange data and synchronize their
execution. IPC mechanisms differ based on whether the processes reside on a single system
(intra-system IPC) or communicate across different systems (inter-system IPC) in a
distributed environment.

1. IPC on a Single Computer System (Intra-System IPC)


Characteristics:

 All processes share the same memory space (RAM).


 Faster communication due to direct memory access.
 Requires less overhead since no network involvement.
 Uses operating system-provided mechanisms such as pipes, shared memory, message
queues, and semaphores.

Common Mechanisms:

IPC Mechanism Description


Pipes Unidirectional or bidirectional communication between related processes.
Named Pipes (FIFOs) Allows unrelated processes to communicate using a file-like interface.
Message Queues Structured messages are sent and received asynchronously.
Shared Memory Fastest IPC; allows multiple processes to access common memory space.
Semaphores Used for synchronization and mutual exclusion in shared memory.

Example Use Case:

 A parent process creates a child process and uses pipes to send commands to it.
 A multithreaded application using shared memory to share data between threads.

2. IPC Between Processes on Different Systems (Inter-


System IPC or Distributed IPC)
Characteristics:

 Processes run on different physical machines connected via a network (LAN, WAN,
or the Internet).
 Communication involves higher latency due to network transmission delays.
 Uses network protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP, or HTTP.
 More security concerns since data is transmitted over a network.

Common Mechanisms:

IPC Mechanism Description


Sockets Bidirectional communication using TCP/UDP over a network.
Remote Procedure Calls Allows a process to execute functions on another system as if they
(RPCs) were local.
Message Passing (via Uses messaging frameworks like RabbitMQ, Kafka, or MQTT
Middleware) for distributed communication.
Distributed Shared
Simulates shared memory across networked computers.
Memory (DSM)
Web Services (REST/SOAP Provides platform-independent communication between
APIs) applications over HTTP.

Example Use Case:

 A client-server model where a web browser (client process) communicates with a web
server (server process) using sockets.
 A microservices-based application where different services exchange data using REST
APIs.

3. Key Differences:
Feature Single-System IPC Different-System IPC
Speed Very fast (memory-based) Slower (network-based)
More complex (requires network
Complexity Simpler
handling)
Security Internal, less risk Higher risk (encryption needed)
Overhead Low (direct memory access) High (network communication)
Pipes, FIFOs, Shared Memory, Message Sockets, RPC, REST APIs, Message
Examples
Queues Brokers

4. Conclusion
 Single-System IPC is used for efficient and fast communication between processes on
the same OS.
 Inter-System IPC is required for distributed computing, such as web applications,
microservices, and cloud-based architectures.

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