<div class="content" name="Overview (synopsis)" uuid="3cee8b47-c229-4750-83ad-8e6d16267779"><p>The <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_6604aa4d-b556-4929-9c74-b2bd9bbe4d02" data-linktype="relative-path">Virtual
Disk Service (VDS)</a> Remote Protocol is a set of Distributed Component Object
Model (DCOM) interfaces for managing the configuration of disk storage on a
computer. VDS provides a mechanism for remote configuration of <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_c4133b2a-a990-4042-ba44-7fda3090f118" data-linktype="relative-path">disks</a>, <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_2f24f458-7d39-47a2-93f7-de433ea85c75" data-linktype="relative-path">partitions</a>, <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_9a876829-33a1-4f0b-8b81-8552b7e5561c" data-linktype="relative-path">volumes</a>, and <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_daaa5b4b-e3f0-4df2-94b2-332d6d84cf80" data-linktype="relative-path">iSCSI initiators</a> on a
server. Through the Virtual Disk Service Remote Protocol, a client can change
the configuration of disks into partitions, partitions into volumes, and
volumes into <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_528b06a4-e67c-43b3-a02d-8738858a691d" data-linktype="relative-path">file systems</a>.
The protocol also enables clients to obtain notifications of changes to these
storage objects. </p><p>In the Virtual Disk Service Remote Protocol, two entities
are involved: the server, whose storage is configured, and the client, which
accesses and requests changes to the server storage configuration. </p><p>The Virtual Disk Service Remote Protocol is expressed as a
set of <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_ae2a9876-7fed-4f0d-a390-bf78f76c0736" data-linktype="relative-path">DCOM</a> <a href="8eef5d42-22d7-4302-aed9-12face91505a#gt_95913fbd-3262-47ae-b5eb-18e6806824b9" data-linktype="relative-path">interfaces</a>. For a server,
this protocol implements support for the DCOM interface in order to manage
storage. For a client, this protocol invokes method calls on the interface in
order to perform disk and volume configuration tasks on the server.<a id="Appendix_A_Target_1"></a><a aria-label="Product behavior note 1" href="6b2552ee-ba27-409f-99a8-18841573327a#Appendix_A_1" data-linktype="relative-path">&lt;1&gt;</a></p><p>Although this specification outlines the basic concepts that
you need to know, this specification assumes that you are familiar with these
technologies. For information about storage, disk, and volume concepts, see <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90139" data-linktype="external">[MSDN-STC]</a> and <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90059" data-linktype="external">[MSDN-PARTITIONINFO]</a>;
for information on disk management, see <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=89992" data-linktype="external">[MSDN-DISKMAN]</a>.</p></div>