An ActiveX Automation server is any executable code that other applications can access. ActiveX uses a client/server relationship in which the client requests objects from the server and sends commands to the server to perform actions on the objects.

Clients and servers can run on a single computer or on separate computers connected by a network. An ActiveX server is local when it runs on the same computer as its client and remote when it runs on a different computer.

On a single computer, an ActiveX server runs in-process or out-of-process with respect to the client. An in-process ActiveX server is a DLL that runs in the same process space as the client. An out-of-process ActiveX server is an executable and therefore does not run in the same process space as the client.

Note Using an out-of-process server can add significant performance overhead to the client application.