Services Utility: Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service Service
| Display Name (?): | Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service | ||||||||||||||
| Short Name (?): | RpcSs | ||||||||||||||
| Executable (?): | rpcss.exe | ||||||||||||||
| Library (?): | None. | ||||||||||||||
| Depends On (?): | None. | ||||||||||||||
| Supports (?): | Fax Service, Routing and Remote Access, Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) | ||||||||||||||
| Description (?): | None. | ||||||||||||||
| OS (?): | NT4 Workstation, NT4 Server | ||||||||||||||
| Startup (?): |
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Explanation (?): | The Remote Procedure Call Service (RPC) service is used in supporting a UNIX standard that allows for network library sharing. What is known as a portmapper function is used in creating access point procedures that allow for external applications to connect through this service so that they may use its resources. Once a port has been mapped any program that uses the correct syntax may access through this service and have access to its functions. In simplistic terms this allows one computer to execute commands on another computer using a set standard through port 135. As you may have guessed this has the ability to be a security risk. Actually, the RPC ability on UNIX has been such too, but luckily NT has not been affected by it which most likely be attributed to the fact that Microsoft does not document this service very well. As such very few applications actually use it. In Windows 9x this service is supported through the use of rpcss.exe and can be found in version 2.0 of the winsock. But, even though this service is designed mainly for network functions and is not used by 3rd party functions it is imperative that you do not disable this service. In fact you should always leave this service set to automatic. This is due to the design of the client/server NT kernel that uses the RPC system to pass itself data from different modules much like it uses DCOM and COM+. In fact, by disabling this service your NT based system will be unable to coordinate actions between the user's profile and the kernel making your system unusable. |