View source for Jini

{{short description|Network architecture for distributed systems}}
{{for|the South Korean singer|Jini (singer)}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2013}}
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| license                = [[Apache License 2.0]]
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'''Jini''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|iː|n|i}}), also called '''Apache River,''' is a [[network architecture]] for the construction of [[distributed system]]s in the form of modular co-operating services.<ref name="kelly-reiss">{{cite news|first1=Kevin Kelly, Spencer|last1=Reiss|access-date=2020-10-01|title=One Huge Computer|url=https://www.wired.com/1998/08/jini/|newspaper=Wired|date=1 August 1998|issn=1059-1028}}</ref> JavaSpaces is a part of the Jini.

Originally developed by [[Sun Microsystems]], Jini was released under the [[Apache License 2.0]].<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/Sun-releases-Jini-with-open-source-license/2100-7344_3-5902446.html Sun releases Jini with open-source license]</ref> Responsibility for Jini was transferred to [[Apache Software Foundation|Apache]] in 2007<ref name="river-board-minutes">{{cite web|title=Board Meeting Minutes - River|url=https://whimsy.apache.org/board/minutes/River.html|website=apache.org|publisher=Apache|access-date=2024-12-30|date=February 2022}}</ref> under the project name "River",<ref>[http://incubator.apache.org/river/ River project depot] at Apache.org</ref> but the project was retired in early 2022 due to lack of activity.<ref name="river-board-minutes"/>

==History==
[[Sun Microsystems]] introduced Jini in July 1998.<ref name="kelly-reiss"/> In November 1998, Sun announced that there were some firms supporting Jini.

The Jini team at Sun stated that ''Jini'' is not an acronym. [[Ken Arnold]] has joked that it means "Jini Is Not Initials", making it a [[recursive acronym#Mutually recursive or otherwise special|recursive anti-acronym]],<ref>[http://www.artima.com/jini/faq.html#acronym FAQ for JINI-USERS Mailing List - What does "Jini" stand for?]</ref> but it has always been just ''Jini''. The word 'jini' means "the devil" in [[Swahili language|Swahili]]; this is borrowed from the [[Arabic]] word for a mythological spirit, originated from the Latin ''genius'', which is also the origin of the English word '[[genie]]'.

Jini provides the infrastructure for the Service-object-oriented architecture (SOOA).

==Using a service==
Locating services is done through a lookup service.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sommers|first1=Frank|last2=Venners|first2=Bill|title=Jim Waldo on Distributed Computing|url=https://www.artima.com/intv/waldoP.html|website=www.artima.com|publisher=JavaWorld|access-date=21 April 2018|date=November 2001}}</ref> Services try to contact a lookup service (LUS), either by [[unicast]] interaction, when it knows the actual location of the lookup service, or by dynamic [[multicast]] discovery. The lookup service returns an object called the service registrar that can be used by services to register themselves so they can be found by clients. Clients can use the lookup service to retrieve a proxy object to the service; calls to the proxy translate the call to a service request, performs this request on the service, and returns the result to the client. This strategy is more convenient than [[Java remote method invocation]], which requires the client to know the location of the remote service in advance.

==Limitations==
Jini uses a lookup service to broker communication between the client and service. This appears to be a centralized model (though the communication between client and service can be seen as decentralized) that does not scale well to very large systems. However, the lookup service can be horizontally scaled by running multiple instances that listen to the same multicast group.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

==See also==
* [[Jim Waldo]], lead architect of Jini
* [[Ken Arnold]], one of the original Jini architects
* Juxtapose ([[JXTA]])
* SORCER ([[SORCER]])
* [[Java Management Extensions]] (JMX)
* [[Simple Network Management Protocol]] (SNMP)
* [[Zeroconf|Zero Configuration Networking]]
* [[OSGi]] Alliance
* [[Service Location Protocol]]
* [[Universal Plug and Play]] (UPnP)
* [[Devices Profile for Web Services]] (DPWS)
* [[Tuple space]]
* [[Common Object Request Broker Architecture|CORBA]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806235837/http://www.jini.org/ |date=August 6, 2011 |title=Jini.org }}

{{Apache Software Foundation}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Apache Software Foundation projects|Jini]]
[[Category:Java platform]]
[[Category:Beta software]]
[[Category:Software using the Apache license]]