Software Distribution via Multicast?

RockyMountain asks: "When it took me over 24 hours to download the latest Mandrake ISOs, I got to wondering...why do we still put up with servers overloaded with zillions of simultaneous TCP connections, all sending copies of the same thing?Hasn't multicasting evolved to the point where there's a better way? A quick look at Freshmeat turned up no obvious candidates. Are there any protocols or programs for distributing software via multicast? Are there any evolving standards? Or are there fundamental problems with this approach that I am overlooking?" An interesting question. With my limited understanding of Multicast, I would think that, at the very least, if you are a software distribution site you can have software distribution "channels", where each channel serves one piece of software. Milticast clients wanting a specific piece of software would connect to the right channel and wait until the next time it starts serving the software from the beginning (or, in the case of an interrupted connection, when the channel gets to the appropriate resume point). Might such a system be ideal for multicast? Can any of you come up with others?

Comments

Why wait?

[Will Dyson]

For things like .iso files, where the user needs the whole file before they can use any of it, there is no need to start from the begining of the file.

Server sends the file over and over again, as long as there is at least one member of the mulitcast group.

Clients join the mulitcast group and start recording wherever in the file they happen to find themselves. When the file stream ends, it simply starts from the beginning again and the client procedes to capture the part that it missed the first time around before disconnecting.