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Apple Releases Rendezvous for Linux, Java, Windows

Posted by timothy on from the it's-french-so-it-sounds-sexy dept.

mblase writes "Apple released yesterday a developers preview of their Rendezvous technology for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Java. Rendezvous is an open protocol which uses industry standard IP protocols to allow devices to automatically find each other without the need to enter IP addresses or configure DNS servers." Reader xxdarkxxmatterxx adds a link to a story at Macworld about the release."

34 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Apple intruding on MS's territory? by revscat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Umm... Is it just me, or does this seems to be a little bit of a shot across the bow of Microsoft? Here we have Apple giving something to the community that will add some seriously cool networking capabilities, capabilities the likes of which have traditionally fallen within the realm of the OS itself. At the very least this takes away the ability for MS to use something like this for a "New in Longhorn!" marketing point.

    I can't imagine that this makes MS particularly happy, but there's certainly not much they can do about it. Rendevous is seriously a cool technology, and I'm glad Apple decided to release it before MS came up with something similar but incompatible (and, of course, under their control).

    Admittedly this argument could be made for Solaris, etc. But I would imagine those communities welcome this addition, whereas I would imagine MS to be a bit colder to the idea.

    In any event, kudos to Apple.

    1. Re:Apple intruding on MS's territory? by Croaker-bg · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is a wonderful concept for small to medium sized networks but I can forsee that it will not scale well. If you read into the RFCs a bit it seems that the services location action and the ability to find things without a DNS server rely heavily on the use of DNS via multicast. This is a great idea in principle but the design of a large scale network with correct multicast switching is tough to do from scratch ... let alone reverse engineer your network with multiple flavors of switching gear (cisco, avaya, etc) to handle all the multicast traffic correctly. Sadly, I have to admit that centralized IP based active directory controlled "dynamic DNS" is about the only thing that I have seen that will scale well at the REALLY BIG network level. In addition, I see no mention of the protocol being able to traverse a router. WTF good is a /16 address space if it can't get across a router? Can someone say "DNS helper acl"?

    2. Re:Apple intruding on MS's territory? by fmorgan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Rendezvous is not something targeted to medium/large enterprises (even if I just heard something about someone at UCLA being able to access all their computers for some "instant-on-grid-calculation with it).
      But if you have a home network (TiVo, HiFi with something like AirTunes Express, and iTunes in your PC/Mac), this is great.

      No, this isn't a solution for everything, but neither is using a cannon to kill flies.

    3. Re:Apple intruding on MS's territory? by RetiredMidn · · Score: 5, Interesting
      IIRC HP has had rendezvous support in their printers for a while now.

      Yes, and at the risk of ruining a perfectly good karma, I will point out that after trying and failing for half an hour to print a web-based document from my Linux machine on my employer's network printers, I put my PowerBook on the net and started the print job in less than 30 seconds via Rendezvous discovery.

      But the really cool thing is that the HP printers on the net show up in Safari's Bookmark bar Rendezvous menu, providing HTML interfaces for printer status and settings.

    4. Re:Apple intruding on MS's territory? by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny
      grr, use preview carefully!

      Or use it carelessly, and double your karma!

  2. So let's see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Rendezvous is an open protocol which uses industry standard IP protocols to allow devices to automatically find each other without the need to enter IP addresses or configure DNS servers.

    Following the link to the developer site we find that:

    Rendezvous requires that devices implement three essential things. These devices must be able to

    allocate IP addresses without a DHCP server

    translate between names and IP addresses without a DNS server

    locate or advertise services without using a directory server

    ok...

    1. Re:So let's see... by dOxxx · · Score: 5, Informative

      Rendezvous is based on a few underlying services: Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses, Multicast DNS, and DNS-based Service Discovery.

      Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses: In the absence of a DHCP server, the machine is able to configure itself with an IP address in a reserved range such that it doesn't clash with other IP addresses configured by other machines on the same network in a similar manner.

      Multicast DNS: Multicast DNS Responder services on each machine respond to multicast queries for their DNS information.

      DNS-based Service Discovery: Querying for the existence of services (HTTP, FTP, SSH, etc.) via DNS.

      So, in a sense, "everything is a DNS/DHCP/Directory server" but only for the information and services provided by that particular machine.

    2. Re:So let's see... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 5, Informative

      Rendevous is some what like making each computer a DNS/DHCP/Directory server, however that's not completely accurate.

      It's not so much that it's not completely accurate as it is that it's completely wrong.

      Rendezvous has nothing to do with DNS, DHCP, or directory services. It's a service discovery framework, and that's all. Here's how it works.

      Let's say you've got some program, Foo.app, that has a feature for talking to other instances of Foo.app over the network. Doesn't matter what it is. It could be iTunes music sharing or iChat or distributed compilation or whatever you want.

      Without Rendezvous, you'd have to tell your instance of Foo.app where to find other instances. That'd require some kind of setup and some kind of maintenance.

      With Rendezvous, your instance of Foo.app sends out a single multicast message when it starts up. That message says that there's an instance of Foo.app available at our IP address. Other instances on the network receive that message and make a note of it. They maintain a list in memory of available services, all automatically, without your intervention.

      Does this involve a lot of network traffic? Not really. It requires some, but not much. When an instance of Foo.app starts up, it (1) announces its own presence, and (2) sends out a multicast request for other instances, and the other instances reply. When Foo.app shuts down, it sends out an announcement of its own termination. That's it.

      Does this involve terrible security risks? Not really. All Rendezvous does is publish the availability of services that are already running on the network. The responder daemon itself doesn't run with any privileges (on a Mac, it runs as the "nobody" user), and all Rendezvous requests are handled by that one daemon. If something magical happened and somebody was able to get mDNSResponder to run arbitrary code, there would have to be another exploitable security hole somewhere else on the system, because mDNSResponder doesn't have privilege to do anything.

      A prime example of Rendevous is two Powerbooks in a cafe, both with Airport wireless. You can set up an Ad Hoc wireless network between these computers, and they will auto configure their IP's and other information so that they can talk to each other.

      That's not Rendezvous. That's nothing more than self-assigned IP addresses. When your computer can't find a DHCP server, it self-assigns an address in the 169.254/16 network. Which means any two computers on the same network segment that have self-assigned IPs can talk to each other. This has been around since long before Rendezvous.

      So Rendevous is not designed to replace DNS/DHCP, but merely to find a way for network configuration when there is no established network structure.

      No, that's overstating it. The sole purpose of Rendezvous is service discovery. That's it. It's independent of network configuration. It works with or without DHCP, DNS, or any other network stuff. As long as you've got an IP address, Rendezvous does its thing.

      This is really the beauty of it, because it can determine what configuration is necessary and do whatever needed to get the computers networked, all transparently!

      No, no, NO! That's not Rendezvous, that's DHCP. Rendezvous is ONLY for service discovery. Rendezvous doesn't set your IP address or your routing table or your hostname resolution parameters. It doesn't do any of those things. All it does is facilitate service announcement and discovery for your applications.

      --

      I write in my journal
  3. This sounds like they are getting ready by great+om · · Score: 5, Interesting

    to release more home electronics type products. After all why would they need Rendevous on non-mac platformsm, unless they were planning on selling a networking device that hooks up to the home network? (like, say, a digital video device or some other home theatre component)

    --
    ------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
  4. Pseudocode for accomplishing this by Atario · · Score: 5, Funny

    for A = 0 to 255
    for B = 0 to 255
    for C = 0 to 255
    for D = 0 to 255
    ping A.B.C.D
    if (there was a response) then store A.B.C.D in list Q
    next
    next
    next
    next
    print list Q

    --
    "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
    1. Re:Pseudocode for accomplishing this by JohnFromCanada · · Score: 5, Funny

      "for A = 0 to 255 . . . ."

      How many script kiddies do you think are going to copy that code and try to compile or execute it?

    2. Re:Pseudocode for accomplishing this by bbh · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sweet! Where do I get a pseudocode compiler! :P

      bbh

  5. Appletalk for IP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Rendezvous/ZeroConf is basically Appletalk for IP. While Appletalk had its shortcomings, it was awesome for setting up small networks. Just plug + play, no DNS/DHCP/etc BS to worry about. Appletalk's gone the way of the dodo, replaced by this (which works on an IP network).

  6. Im ready by BlindSpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have a feeling this will be implemented into standard Linux use real fast. Having this technology for every platform will really help portability of hardware I think too. This is going to be another one of those things that Windows implements but does it horribly unstable so no one can really use it.

    --
    Whoever dies with the most toys wins.
  7. I've found it! by daringone · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sweet! My PC just found my Microwave!!!

    /home/daringone#setmwave 1m

    Microwave set to 1 minute

    /home/daringone#startmwave

    Your food is cooking.

    /home/daringone#

    Your food is done.

    /home/daringone#

  8. Apple supports Internet Explorer??? by CdBee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Rendezvous technology is now available on Windows 2000 and XP. This preview release includes full link-local support, allowing Windows machines to discover advertised HTTP and FTP servers using Internet Explorer"

    Given that Apple today joined the announcement with Mozilla and Opera of open-standards for web plugins it surprises me that their product even suggests the use of Internet Explorer.
    I freely admit to hoping, someday, for Safari on Windows and using Firefox until that day (And pls don't reply saying Safari is on Windows in iTunes.. iTMS on Windows doesn't use Webcore, more's the pity.)

    --
    I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
  9. DNS-SD by mabu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A cursory examination of some of their documents seems to indicate the plan involves what they're calling DNS-SD (DNS-based service discovery) which is a way of encapsulating device id and configuration information within DNS records, and specifically making use of special conventions for TXT data.

    If this is the case, it seems a pretty clever and resourceful approach.

    Then again, this will make DNS servers the main entry point for discovering information about networks, especially information that might normally not be publicly available.

    Personally, I like this approach because far less people have access to manage detailed DNS data and may actually be able to manage these things effectively, but there's also a ton of people out there who have insecure DNS information and adoption of this approach among those admins who haven't secured their networks might create an even bigger security problem.

  10. I should point out... by AusG4 · · Score: 5, Informative

    For anyone who is interested, Rendezvous is Apple's implementation of of ZeroConf

    While Apple's Rendezvous overview gives some decent information, the ZeroConf site provides a lot of good technical resources.

    Apple really needed ZeroConf as they transitioned to all-IP networking. Although OS X supports AppleTalk, the AppleTalk protocol has clearly seen it's day and the world is clearly moving to IP-only. Previously, when Macintosh machines were largely communicating via AppleTalk, all of the things that ZeroConf addresses were handled by the AppleTalk protocol suite (service discovery, address allocation, etc), and this ease of use that is signature to the Macintosh is important for Apple to maintain.

    That said, Apple releasing this code is pretty significant, as aside from this project, there hasn't been much use of ZeroConf in the wild.

    --
    bash-3.00$ uname -a
    SunOS panda 5.10 Generic sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-2
  11. Rendezvous for Pocket PCs by drazvan · · Score: 5, Informative

    We've launched this only a few weeks ago: Pocketster. It contains an implementation of Rendezvous for the Pocket PC and it also gives you wireless filesharing capabilities (we have a new version coming out on July 6th). It's free, so give it a try if you want (that is if you have a Pocket PC). Also, you might want to check JmDNS (Java version of Rendezvous) and Howl for a Windows implementation. Razvan

  12. Rendezvous really helps laptop users by Infonaut · · Score: 5, Interesting
    If you're like me and you find yourself using your laptop at client locations all the time, plugged into their network via Ethernet or a WiFi connection, Rendezvous is great.

    Several times I've had the need to print something while in an unfamiliar network. It takes just a few seconds to find and send a job to a printer using Rendezvous. At first it seems ludicrously easy, like it won't actually work. But it does.

    In a laptop-centric world, Rendezvous makes life a lot easier.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  13. UPNP vs zeroconf/rendezvous by ashpool7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wouldn't call UPNP "superior" by any stretch of the imagination.

    Comparisons have been done. I'd rather have low traffic and better service separation vs the "use-http-for-everything" strategy.

    1. Re:UPNP vs zeroconf/rendezvous by Precipitous · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The link is a very interesting article - more interesting than the initial story.

      To me, it looks like the largest drawback to UPnP is that it defines too much and becomes inflexible. While the current implementation of Rendezvous is directed at home networks and networks without much infrastructure, I can't see why it couldn't scale out. If / when it scales out, it will intrude on more than just UPnP. It could also kick butt all over MS's UDDI for web services. Here's a scenario for which I could profitably use a more scalable Rendezvous type functionality, where neither UPnP or UDDI would work well:

      A service gets a name, independent of the machine. Clients of all types find and connect to the service. For example, we've got a critical Job Status service, that collects information about myriad automated jobs so that the staff responsible for a set of jobs can quickly check if any of their jobs are misbehaving.

      Say the computer running the Job Status service blows up and rolls over to a different device (or we painfully restore it on another device). Certain fancy expensive data base servers handle this rollover smoothly - but not my home grown application. I get it almost for free with Rendezvous (expect moving the service). Because the client connects to a service name, it finds the new service seamlessly. No configuration file push, no changing C-Names in the active directory (which requires arguing with about 4 departments in my company) . Just bring up the same service name on a new device.

      Rendezvous could apply to any service - not just web services as with UDDI. Also unlike UDDI, there is no need for a single point of failure (the server with the UDDI directory). Unlike UPNP, I don't have to jump through hoops to describe my service, or attempt to conform it to an existing specification - and the current ones are really focussed on devices. I don't really care about describing my service in grand detail. I can assume an application designed to work with knows how it works.

      The main thing missing from Rendezvous for this scenario is scalability. Rendezvous could solve this easily by stealing the controller model for UPnP. Put up 5 or 10 controllers on our 10,000 device network. Each client knows about a few of them. You can handle the load and don't have a single point of failure.

      --
      My motto: "A cat is no trade for integrity."
    2. Re:UPNP vs zeroconf/rendezvous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The part that is important is specifying the commands and data to/from devices.

      Which already exists as other protocols. It's better to separate the device/application-specific stuff from the transport. We learned that lesson from IP.

      We learned this lesson back with SCSI-1.

      No, we didn't. Your example ignores the fact that protocols already exist to perform these functions. Why reengineer IPP when it already exists?

      A lightweight approach is best, which is what Zeroconf provides.

  14. Re:WOW! by Cajal · · Score: 5, Informative

    UDP traffic is pretty lightweight. ZeroConf is basically just some ICMP traffic (when the nodes are assigning themselves addresses) and then DNS. Apple's implementation will aggressively cache query results, and the devices incremementally scale back their announcements.

    Another nice feature is that nodes can cache the results of other nodes' queries. Since all of the DNS traffic is mulitcast on the local subnet, every node sees every query and every response. Apple's code expolits this to further reduce the need for duplicate queries. It's a pretty nice setup.

  15. Apple does solid software by quadra23 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple continues to surprise me with their interest in designing software that is compatible for the Windows platform in addition to their own (and in this case, also Unix and GNU/Linux). While from Microsoft, they have typically steered to their flagship products and rarely ported them (with the exception of Office and IE) to other OSes.

    Even as a frequent Windows user I have great respect for Apple and find their software for Windows actually crashes less then Microsoft made software(!). In addition, they are rarely so deeply entrenched in the OS that if you wanted ot change extension preferences it doesn't fuss as much.

    I'd be interested in trying out this new technology and I'm sure it will make it big hit on all network sizes. Good thing for Apple that they released the specs before MS could claim any competing service! Let's all give some positive input to see this software hit new limits!
  16. Rendesvous, Tiger, and NT by chia_monkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And this from Apple's website:

    NT Migration Tool Tiger Server makes it a snap to upgrade your aging Windows NT network to a Mac OS X server. The new NT Migration Tool automatically extracts all of your user and group account information from an existing Windows Primary Domain Controller and moves it into Open Directory. Tiger Server can then take over as your Primary Domain Controller for your Windows clients and even host your Windows users' home directories, group folders, roaming profiles and shared printers.

    So they're making it easier for NT users to migrate their network over to Tiger when it is released. And now this Rendesvous news. Sounds like Apple is quite serious about wanting to be a player in the enterprise server market if you ask me.

    --

    "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
  17. Re:For all those that keep asking..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well it's actually more than that. It's the control over the hardware and the software that gives Apple the it just works vibe. Apple only has to qualify and QC a small subset of hardware, if Apple opens up to the PC world with the myriad of hardware combinations available, there is no way they could produce the same user experience.

  18. They beat microsoft to the punch. by karmatic · · Score: 5, Informative

    Microsoft has been in alpha now for a bit with a product called "Windows NCD Technology" (I'm a tester). This is Apple's shot across MS's bow.

    From the alpha page, Windows Network Connected Device (NCD) Technology is a comprehensive set of Windows technologies that allow devices on a local network to discover, communicate with, and control each other.

  19. Re:For all those that keep asking..... by jurv!s · · Score: 5, Interesting
    What he means is that although he's paid a premium for his "kit", he's had the pleasure of using Rendezvous in action for almost two years now... [and trust me, it is a pure delight. It's so pervasive and stable that I almost always forget to mention it as one of OS X's stronger features when proselytizing to the "unwashed heathens" - j/k ]

    I just purchased my first new Mac in 3 years [no, my 3year old DP800 is still more than powerful enough to be my main machine, it just wasn't portable *enough*]. I weighed many options and nearly went delerious trying to beat the Apple tax and all their silly pre-configured options. I seriously looked at one of those nice AMD64 laptops for a whole afternoon. But while I would have saved on the kit, I wouldn't be able to run an OS that somehow always manages to stay at or near the top of all the features with little to no hassle to set up and use. After the delerium abated, I settled on a stripped down 15" PBG4 1.33GHz tricked out with 3rd party RAM. I swear that the desire to lick my backlit keyboard in the dark still has not abated...

    --
    sigs are for fools and trolls. no signature is *always* appropriate. you should turn them off in your preferences.
  20. Re:La di da by gamgee5273 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Not the same thing... but, then you wouldn't be an AC if you wanted to be taken seriously.

    ZeroConf means a visiting professor walks into a lab at a university and can automatically print. There's zero configuration.

    It means an iTunes user can broadcast their library on the network and another iTunes user can pick it up with no problem. There's zero configuration.

    It means I can open iChat, not go onto AOL's network, and see my coworkers down the hallway with zero configuration.

    It means I can share a workgroup document we are editing in SubEthaEdit and easily invite coworkers on the LAN. There's zero configuration

    And now it means that non-Mac users can start getting in on a lot of the same stuff.

  21. No parent was right, you are wrong. by overunderunderdone · · Score: 5, Informative
    No, you are wrong... or more correctly only partly right. Rendezvous is Apple marketing-speak for zeroconf which involves, to quote the zeroconf website:
    1. Allocate addresses without a DHCP server.
    2. Translate between names and IP addresses without a DNS server.
    3. Find services, like printers, without a directory server.
    4. Allocate IP Multicast addresses without a MADCAP server.
    You are quite accurately describing point 3 whereas the parent was describing points 1,2 and 4. But ALL FOUR are rendezvous/zeroconf.
  22. Use zeroconf to find the router by ashpool7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    zeroconf enabled DHCP server can point you in the right direction. Zeroconf outside of local networks makes no sense. When you ask for all the local printers, you don't want to get every one on the entire frickin internet.

    For enterprise wide networks, you zeroconf/rendezvous acquire a DHCP server and a Directory server. From there, they will point you to the rest of the services in your enterprise *outside* of your local network.

    Correct multicast switching is not a problem. Do you personally mess with something that intentionally messes up the broadcast address in TCP/IP?

  23. Re:P2P and Rendezvous by overunderunderdone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Stuart Cheshire, the guy that first proposed Zeroconf and started the ZeroConf group did so as an Apple employee on Apple's dime. I think it's fair to say that it is an Apple technology that they opened up as a standard from the very beginning. This announcement is just that Apple is opening up it's own in-house implementation of an open standard that also started in their labs.

  24. Re:For all those that keep asking..... by foidulus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most people don't buy Macs because of thier hardware,
    You would be surprised. Outside of the eMac(which is basically just a machine to get OS X), all other apple hardware has some definite selling points.
    A portion of /.izens use iBooks/Powerbooks with Linux on them. Why? Because Apple's laptops are a nice piece of hardware. They have decent, if not overwhelming performance stats, they automatically go to sleep when you close the lid, they look nice, certain models don't weigh a whole lot for all the features you get, and they have long battery life.
    The iMac has a small form factor, it is very quiet(key among recording studios), and it is sleek, stylish, and dare I say almost sexy. Currently the iMac is a horrible deal, but I would bet on a performance boost and/or price drop beforre back to school season this year.
    And I'm not going to start a G5 vs. AMD vs. Intel flamewar, but there are people who believe that the powermacs give the most bang for the buck(but then there are people who disagree, you make your own conclusions)
    So Apple hardware(outside of the eMac of course) isn't all that bad. If you are going on pure performance per dollar then maybe it doesn't look great, but keep in mind people have a lot of different needs for their computers.