Understanding RPC vs HTTP Services: Architecture, Call Types, and Popular Frameworks
This article explains the OSI model basics, compares RPC and HTTP service architectures, details synchronous and asynchronous calls, introduces major RPC frameworks like gRPC, Thrift, and Dubbo, and offers guidance on choosing between RPC and HTTP based on project needs.
Before diving into RPC and HTTP differences, the article reviews the OSI seven‑layer model, highlighting the application and transport layers relevant to RPC (TCP) and HTTP (application).
It then describes the typical RPC architecture consisting of a client, server, client stub and server stub, explaining their roles in request packaging and handling.
The article distinguishes synchronous calls, where the client waits for a result, from asynchronous calls, which return immediately and may use callbacks, relating them to Java's Callable/Future and Runnable interfaces.
Three popular open‑source RPC frameworks are introduced: gRPC (built on HTTP/2 and Netty), Apache Thrift (cross‑language with IDL code generation), and Dubbo (Alibaba’s Java‑centric framework with pluggable protocols and serialization).
In contrast, HTTP services are presented as RESTful APIs using the HTTP protocol, with a simple example of a POST request:
POST http://www.httpexample.com/restful/buyer/info/shar
The article compares the two approaches, noting that RPC is often preferred in large enterprises for higher efficiency, persistent connections, and built‑in service registries, while HTTP is simpler and faster to develop for smaller projects.
Finally, it advises choosing the appropriate technology based on project requirements rather than following trends.
Top Architect
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