InternetPeriscope enables you to determine what Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Services are running on your Unix and Windows machines.
RPC is an application level interface that allows programmers to develop distributed applications. Programmers create applications by writing "functions." RPC enables a programmer to write a program that runs on one machine, and makes remote procedure calls (function calls) to another machine, thus utilizing the resources of two machines.
There are two industry standards for RPC. Microsoft Windows machines typically implement the Network Computing System (NCS) standard. Unix machines typically implement the Open Network Computing (ONC). Note that it is possible for both Windows and Unix machines to run either standard. This is often done so that Windows and Unix machines can interoperate (e.g. share files).
Many popular services are implemented using RPC, including the Network File System (NFS) and the Network Information Service (NIS) on Unix, and Directory Services and DCOM on Windows platforms.
InternetPeriscope enables you to query either type of RPC server, to find out what RPC services the host supports.
It is recommended that you use InternetPeriscope to query all your hosts for both types of RPC. Recently, RPC services have become a favored target of hackers. It is strongly recommended that you disable any unneeded RPC services. InternetPeriscope can help you to determine which unnecessary services are running on your remote hosts.