A message-based remote database access facility

We present a design for a remote database access facility, which uses a message system as its communication medium. Adopting a message-based design offers a number of advantages over more conventional connection-oriented architectures for those remote database applications where the interaction between user and DBMS involves a single query followed by a single result. By complying with the CCITT X.400 Recommendations on Message Handling Systems, the design allows for networkwide access to remote DBMSs that is independent of the nature of DBMSs being accessed, the systems on which they reside and the network over which they are accessed. An initial implementation using the EAN distributed message system, developed at the University of British Columbia, is described as a means of demonstrating the design's feasibility.Science, Faculty ofComputer Science, Department ofGraduat