1.3.2 Protocol Independence

The design of MBeans, agents, and managers does not depend in any way on the protocol that an agent uses for communicating with external applications. All interactions with MBeans are handled by the MBean server and are thus defined by the JMX APIs.

The provided connectors rely on the API and do not expose any communication details. A connector server, connector client pair can be replaced by another pair without loss of functionality, assuming both protocols are in the network environment. Applications can thus switch protocols according to real-time conditions. For example, if a manager must access an agent behind a firewall, it can instantiate and use an HTTP connector.

Because MBeans and agents are protocol independent, they can be accessed simultaneously through any number of protocols. Connector servers and protocol adaptors can handle multiple connections, so your agent needs only one of them for each protocol to which it responds. The MBean server also supports simultaneous requests, although MBeans are responsible for their own synchronization issues.

New connectors for new protocols can be developed and be used without rewriting existing MBeans or external applications. All that is required is that the new connector client expose the remote API.

The Java DMK 5.1 supports multihome interfaces, allowing you to work in environments where multiple network protocols are available. The multihome interface service means that Java DMK 5.1 offers complete support of the internet protocol version 6 (IPv6), provided it is running on a platform that is IPv6 compatible, namely JDK^TM version 1.4 and higher.