Mechanism for encoding and decoding upgradeable RPC/XDR structures

摘要

A method and system for communicating across heterogeneous networks having components with dissimilar data structure definitions is disclosed in which determinations are made as to whether the sender is up-level or down-level and whether the up-level data structure size is greater or lesser than the down-level data structure size. According to these determinations, data fields for the decoded data structure may skip data or assign default values. The invention reduces upgrade costs and system down time.