Introduction to DCE Configuration
A Distributed Computing Environment (or DCE environment) consists of machines that communicate over a network and run DCE software. The machines in a DCE environment serve different functions and can therefore run different configurations of DCE software. There are three basic types of machines in a DCE environment:
· DCE user machine
A DCE user machine contains DCE software that enables the machine to participate as a client in the DCE environment. A typical example is a user's workstation.
· DCE administrator machine
A DCE administrator machine contains DCE software that enables an administrator to control servers running in the environment. A typical example is the DCE system administrator's workstation.
· DCE server machine
A DCE server machine runs software that implements one or more of the DCE services. There can be different kinds of DCE server machines. Some examples are a DCE file server machine and a DCE security server machine.
The following figure shows an example of a DCE cell containing the three different kinds of DCE machines.
Types of DCE Machines
The different types of DCE machines run different parts of the DCE software. The basic software necessary for any machine to participate in a DCE environment is the DCE user software. The DCE user runs on all three types of DCE machines. The software necessary for an administrator to control DCE servers remotely is the DCE administrator software. The DCE administrator runs on DCE administration machines, along with DCE user software.
Finally, some of the DCE software implements a particular DCE service, and is intended to run only on a machine acting as that particular server. For example, the DCE security server software only runs on a machine designated as a DCE security server machine. There are different kinds of DCE server machines. They run their server-specific software, plus the DCE user software. The following figure summarizes the DCE software that runs on different kinds of DCE machines.
DCE Machines and Their Software
The following sections describe the DCE software configuration components, machine configuration, and cell configuration in more detail.