Subject: Questions on implementing multicasting

From: Vicky Fyrigou <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 19:47:21 +0200

Hello all,

Could you please inform us whether it is possible for multicasting
to be implemented on the following platforms (I am referring to 
multicast routing and not just the applications such as Real Audio) 
and perhaps, where we could find the appropriate software?

- Windows NT4.0
- Linux

Whatsmore, do you know whether, when a proxy is used in NT4.0, it
is possible for the multicast traffic to reach the inner LAN of the
proxy?

And a final question: We have been told that common firewalls used
on NT4.0 servers treat multicast addresses as unicast ones. If this
is true, multicast is filtered by default on firewalls or not?

Thanks in advance,

Vicky Fyrigou
TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
FORTHnet S.A.

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From: Bill Fenner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 17:59:48 PST

Vicky Fyrigou <[email-masked]> wrote:
>- [Can] Windows NT4.0 [be a multicast router?]

No.  Microsoft says it will be in NT 5.0 .

>- [Can] Linux [be a multicast router?]

Yes, but you need to use an up-to-date kernel and configure it with
multicast routing (which is apparently listed as an experimental kernel
option).  I have been getting mixed reports on whether or not it's
possible to source packets from the multicast router itself under
Linux, but it apparently works fine for reception.

{Free,Net,Open}BSD and BSD/OS can also act as multicast routers, if
you're looking for a solution to run on a PC.

  Bill

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From: Christos Gantsidis <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 17:34:55 +0200 (EET)

> >- [Can] Linux [be a multicast router?]
 You can always use gated which supports DVMRP and PIM. Also, it's free.

Christos Gantsidis

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From: "Heiko W. Rupp" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 16:49:22 +0100

>  You can always use gated which supports DVMRP and PIM. Also, it's free.

Gated does not prevent you from having kernel bugs. Also it seemd to
me that the gated release which supports PIM and/or DVMRP is not free.

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From: Panos GEVROS <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 16:39:23 +0000

"Heiko W. Rupp" writes:
 |On Thu, Dec 11, 1997 at 05:34:55PM +0200, Christos Gantsidis wrote:
 |> > >- [Can] Linux [be a multicast router?]
 |>  You can always use gated which supports DVMRP and PIM. Also, it's free.
 |
 |Gated does not prevent you from having kernel bugs. Also it seemd to
 |me that the gated release which supports PIM and/or DVMRP is not free.
 |

..otherwise we'd be only intrested to know where to get it from,
anyhow, i think academic licenses are (used to be) free 
If this is (still) the case, does anybody (merit?) have any pointers/info on 
the process required in order to get it?

Cheers,
Panos

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From: David Comay <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 17:46:55 -0800 (PST)

> you're looking for a solution to run on a PC.

In addition, Solaris 2.6 x86 can be used to route multicast traffic on
PCs.

dsc