5.2 Reflection X Advantage Session Processes

In Reflection X Advantage, a traditional X server is broken into separate cooperating processes — a client connector and protocol router, and one or more X servers. This combination of processes is referred to as an "X session." These processes may be distributed on one or more computers, depending on your configuration.

Client Connector and Protocol Router

The client connector and protocol router run together on the same computer. The client connector receives X protocol data from the X client application, converts it to a proprietary Reflection X Advantage protocol, and then sends it to the protocol router.

The protocol router serves as the hub of traffic for a Reflection X Advantage session — it transmits the protocol it receives from the client connector to one or more X server displays connected to the session.

X Server The X server receives and processes data from the protocol router. Reflection X Advantage has two types of X servers:

X server display

This server creates the X client application display and returns user input (for example, keyboard or mouse) to the protocol router, which sends it on to the client program. A shared session may have multiple X server displays.

Headless X server

This server has no physical display, yet processes all X protocol. When enabled, the headless X server can short-circuit inquiry-only requests, removing the need to forward these requests across slow connections to X server displays on user desktops. When a session is suspended, the headless server keeps it alive by continuing to process client requests.