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RPC_X_PIPE_DISCIPLINE_ERROR
What pipe discipline requires
An RPC operation that declares a pipe cannot be treated like an ordinary function that simply returns when the manager has produced its first result. The runtime expects each input pipe to be drained and each output pipe to be filled according to the IDL signature before the call is complete. RPC_X_PIPE_DISCIPLINE_ERROR reports that this contract was broken.
Microsoft maps the underlying pipe-discipline fault to this status. It is therefore a strong clue that the problem is in the operation’s streaming lifecycle, not in authentication, endpoint lookup, or a generic RPC timeout.
Patterns that lead to it
- The server manager returns after processing only part of an input stream.
- The manager exits through an exception or early-error branch before the required output pipe has delivered all promised elements.
- An operation with several pipe parameters processes one stream and skips another.
- Code starts a worker or queues a continuation, then returns from the RPC call before that work has completed the pipe callbacks.
How to verify the complete transfer
Instrument the boundary between application code and generated stubs. For each pipe parameter, collect the number of callback invocations, the total element count, the final callback condition, and the point at which the manager returns. A successful call should not return while any required input is unread or required output remains unproduced.
When an application wants to stop early, define an explicit application-level completion or error convention and make the pipe callbacks reach a valid terminal state before the RPC manager returns. Retrying the call without fixing that state machine can repeat the same partial-transfer failure and may duplicate work if the operation is not idempotent.
References
- The Open Group: DCE RPC pipe processing and callback sequencing
- Microsoft: MIDL pipe type
- Microsoft: mapping RPC pipe-discipline faults to Win32 errors
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