multicasting

[Derek Broughton]

Tom H wrote:

>>>> I am experiencing multicasting.
>>>> I got the theory, now, in practice it's another
>>>> problem.
>>>> Is there a deamon to install?
>>>> How should I setup my interfaces?
>>>> (using /etc/network/interfaces)?
> 
>>> ifconfig eth0:1 192.168.32.96
> 
>>> iface eth0:1 inet static
>>> address 192.168.32.96
>>> ... Need for netmask, I think ...
> 
>> the example has nothing to do with mcast. You can
>> use ifconfig to check if the interface is multicast
>> capable. With netstat you can print the already
>> joined mcast groups. Mcast is senseless without
>> applications that support mcast. Typically the
>> application sets its socket to mcast and deals with
>> the mcast address(es). What do you want to use mcast
>> for?
> 
> 
> If you (Rakotomandimby) mean multicasting, Michael is right; the
> ifconfig and /etc/network/interfaces setups are not relevant. Your
> Ubuntu box is a multicasting client by default (avahi-daemon is
> started up by default). If you want your box to be a multicasting
> server, you have to have avahi-daemon running, have to enable it to be
> a server in "/etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf", and define its service(s)
> in "/etc/avahi/services/".

Huh?  What does avahi (a network service locator) have to do with 
multicasting (the ability to send TCP/IP packets to a single address and 
have them received by multiple clients connected to the same multicast 
address)?  Avahi simply _uses_ multicasting - it doesn't enable it.
-- 
derek