Description
The protobuf protocol provides an interface to the Gemfire Cache Server using Google Protocol Buffers. The exact specification of the interface can be found in the *.proto files included with the product release (packaged in $GEODE_HOME/tools/ClientProtocol/v1/geode-protobuf-definitions-{versionNumber}.zip), but the message format is also detailed in the Message Structure and Definition page.
Creating a Protobuf Connection
There are a few steps that need to be followed when connecting a client to server running the protobuf interface.
Binary Negotiation
After connecting to the server (and doing any socket level security negotiation such as SSL), the client will need to send a single byte to identify the protocol they are using. For the protobuf protocol this byte should be 110. Additionally once the client has identified that they'll be communicating via protobuf, they'll need to send one more byte describing the major version of the protobuf protocol they'll be speaking. This will provide the server with enough information to exchange a protobuf handshake message with the client.