Does Windows (some modern flavour) have an mDNS server installed and/or running by default? If so then how does one tell it, preferably dynamically, to start/stop advertising a new service?
If there is no standard then how does one deal with the problem of conflicts trying to run multiple mDNS servers in that environment?
Basically, I want to implement a service that will run on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X and which needs to advertise its zeroconf webserver location using mDNS. On Linux I just use avahi-publish (or install a config file). I'm guessing that the answer will be straightforward for OS X. I'm struggling to find information for Windows.
Starting with Windows 10, Microsoft made strides towards a native Windows implementation of mDNS and DNS-SD.
While earlier iterations have been limited to UWP apps, a general Win32 API has been exposed from at least SDK version 10.0.18362.0 (1903/19H1, May 2019).
Note: This implementation is currently confirmed working only for 64bit build targets, there is an open issue preventing compilation for 32bit targets.
Outdated note from a previous version of this answer:
Early iterations resulted in mDNS network flooding:
Windows 10, in its default configuration, will spam its local networks
by responding to all mDNS requests with null response packets.
This issue was fixed in Windows 10 1511 (10586) and above
Last time I needed one, Apple's Bonjour Print Services for Windows was the most convenient mDNS client for Windows I could find. Only 5MB.
No, Microsoft doesn't directly support Multicast-DNS.
However, there appear to be several 3rd-party alternatives:
http://bens.me.uk/2013/multicast-dns-and-development-virtual-machines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonjour_%28software%29
http://www.icir.org/gregor/tools/autoconf-protocols.html
http://www.zeroconf.org/
... and ...
http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2008/04/01/how-to-benefit-from-link-local-multicast-name-resolution.aspx
Have also successfully used C++/WinRT for dnssd discovery directly from C++ now. It appears from our perspective to be quicker and more reliable to query services and will let you easily install a watcher to get notifications when devices arrive etc. Of course, this is limited to versions of Windows 10 with support for C++/WinRT, which starts with 10.0.17134.0 (Windows 10, version 1803).
One caveat: We've noticed that it does not provide, nor recognise, a FQDN (trailing dot). So for a device that Bonjour OR Avahi would give an address of mydevice.local., Windows instead gives mydevice.local. Attempting to ping mydevice.local. under Windows 10 (1809) fails.
Windows 10 supports natively mDNS/Zeroconf, but only for modern APIs, not for Win32 applications.
If you have such an application, a third party service is required.
Source: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/8a0346de-2296-4f46-bc36-ff3fb13e283b/builtin-mdnsdnssd-zeroconf-support-in-windows-10
The short answer is to support both Avahi and Bonjour. You'll need Bonjour support to run on OSX anyway, and if a Windows user has installed iTunes they'll already be running it.
As a fallback for Windows users not running iTunes, you can compile Avahi as a library for Windows (with a bit of effort) and bundle it. This is a non-trivial bit of packaging, but the alternative is requiring your Windows users to install iTunes in order to use your application.
Related
Does anyone have any idea how this can be done?
It's my understanding that WebSphere 8.5 traditional is not compatible or will not run on OSX. I am looking for solutions for developers to develop with a WebSphere 8.5 traditional server locally.
Could we setup some servers on a windows machine so they can be used remotely during development?
I downloaded the Eclipse plugin but it gives me the warning saying OS X is not compatible with WebSphere traditional and to give it a remote server address. I tried to point eclipse to a server on a windows PC but it still wants a runtime installation directory.
I found a single thread on WASDev with a similar question talking about runtime stubs with a dead link.
I tried using a liberty server but I get nothing but null pointer exceptions and JMX errors, I don't think this is a valid alternative in my corporate environment.
For developing against WebSphere traditional on OSX, you could try Docker! We've published developer edition versions of 8.5.5.9 and 9.0.0.0, see:
https://developer.ibm.com/wasdev/blog/2016/06/15/websphere-traditional-ibm-http-server-docker-hub/
https://hub.docker.com/r/ibmcom/websphere-traditional/
The Dockerfiles used to produce these images are here, should you want to try building your own instead:
https://github.com/WASdev/ci.docker.websphere-traditional
However, your question is more specific to getting the tools working.
The last I read (and I'll try to confirm/update the answer when I do find it), is that the stubs are part of the full product install for RAD (selectable via Installation Manager).
You're correct that traditional WAS doesn't run on OSX. Remote servers are an option but traditional WAS is considered by some developers to be heavy and slow to restart, so your developers might appreciate something local and more nimble. Liberty is supposed to run on OSX, and things that run on Liberty -usually- will run on traditional, so getting to the bottom of your Liberty problems might be useful. If you haven't already, posting your question on WASDev might reach someone that has a better answer than this one.
I will refer applications in Windows Store for either Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10 as UWP applications as Wikipedia does, if I do not mistake it. Windows RT(not WinRT though) is not discussed to avoid confusion.
I wonder what API's no matter public or undocumented that Windows 8/8.1/10 have implemented that Windows Store and UWP applications rely on, so that they cannot be port to Windows 7, which is NT 6 as Windows 8/8.1/10 do.
If nothing much are there, but only due to M$'s market strategy to promote new technology'd Metro, there might have been some 3rd-party runtime/framework for Windows 7 on which Windows Store will work and UWP applications can run, which will surely spend no more effort and cause no more legal or compatibility trouble than Mono or Wine.
Edit: As How does Windows 8 Runtime (WinRT / Windows Store apps / Windows 10 Universal App) compare to Silverlight and WPF? says, it's a layer quite similar to .NET that lies between COM and application, if I didn't misread.
It's not a marketing strategy by the evil M$, and writing things like that makes you look rather juvenile. There's a giant layer of code (arguably an entire operating system within an operating system) that was written to enable Metro/Modern/UWP apps to run in Windows 8, tweaked in 8.1, and further refined in 10. That layer simply isn't there in Windows 7, wasn't backported, isn't going to be backported, and can't reasonably be backported by a third party who lacks access to the undocumented details of the implementation.
There is no conspiracy afoot here. It is a simple matter of new operating systems supporting things that old operating systems don't. The new features that Windows 8/8.1/10 have implemented that Windows Store and UWP applications rely on is the entire notion of a Windows Store and a UWP application.
The version number ("NT 6", as you point out) doesn't matter. All that tells you is they didn't massively rewrite the kernel. You don't have to rewrite the kernel in order to write a new layer on top of it.
If you want to run Metro/Modern/UWP/Store applications, you need to update to a later version of Windows. Alternatively, you can just write a regular Win32 application, which will run on all versions of Windows, including the latest builds of Windows 10.
I noticed that there's a recent released apps that enables Raspberry Pi to run a deployed LabVIEW program all by itself and to set the program run as RPi boots. Since I was planning to remotely control the LabVIEW program through the internet using a Web UI, is it possible to setup a webservice of the program on the RPi? By the way, I'm currently planning to use RPi 2 for my project.
If I am getting you right you are about LINX at Makers hub: https://www.labviewmakerhub.com/doku.php?id=blog:users:makerhub:2016-04-07-linx-3
It is open source, free tool. You are free to modify and it and add custom command on LINX Firmware as I understand. After that, you can call LabVIEW Custom Command vi which is part of the API.
You can have a look on all API VIs here: https://www.labviewmakerhub.com/doku.php?id=learn:libraries:linx:reference:labview:start
From the discussion thread here:
We're running the LabVIEW Runtime on the target just like we do on our Linux based RIO devices. The great thing about using the full runtime is that you get the standard LabVIEW expereince with interactive mode, highlight execute, probes, startup executables, etc. This also means that all of the core LabVIEW functionality will work. One way to think about it is anything that works without explicitly installing it on the target from MAX should work on BBB/RPI. We actually don't plug into MAX at all. We currently do not support any toolkits or modules, but we've been experimenting with a couple to see what it would take to support things like web services.
So native LabVIEW web services aren't available yet, but may be coming soon - I'm sure development is responsive to what people ask for, so go to that discussion thread and let them know your interest.
You might be able to 'roll your own' simple web service using the TCP VI's, which as far as I can see should be available on the Raspberry Pi.
Note that deployment to Raspberry Pi or (BeagleBone Black) is only licensed for noncommercial use, as stated in the same thread.
I've seen download manager programs including IDM taking control of downloads in browsers without having extensions in them and they are calling it (Advanced Browser Integration).
I was wondering if anyone can suggest an approach for a similar situation?
IDM only works on Windows and does his Advanced Browser Integration tricks using Windows Filtering Platform which is a windows specific service.
If you want to do something similar on Windows, you should study that platform.
On unix systems, as far as I know, there isn't anything like the Windows Filtering Platform. Packet filtering and other firewall like functionality happens in the kernel and there are multiple implementations of that: which is running (if any) depends on how the user decided to configure the system (even if ipf is almost guaranteed to be the used one on BSD and BSD derived systems).
On Mac Os X specifically you probably want to check Network Kernel Extensions. I'm not sure they are sufficient to do what you want to do, but I suspect they are.
I need to provide our web developers an easy and quick way to test their code on multiple browsers. Here's my current plan:
Get a Mac
Install Windows XP and Linux over VMWare
Install all possible major browsers on these OSes, including on the Mac and the god-forsaken IE6.
This will allow developers to use the system to test their applications.
But is it possible to give them some sort of desktop sharing tool, so they can test remotely... keeping in mind that the their systems can be windows, linux(linus?) or macs.
Or am I doing it all wrong?
There are a few viable options I have used:
Get hardware. If you develop on Macs and have an old Windows box laying around, you might as well use it. You then need to figure out how you are going to connect to it. I have used:
(a) remote control tool (like VNC) to
a shared box. At one company we had a
IE6 testing box we all VNCed into
(b) Synergy on my desktop (which
allows sharing keyboard and mouse)
(c) Walking
VMs. Some developers like this because they have everything on one box, and can take it with them. You'll probably need multiple VMs for different versions of Windows. I've done this with both Parallels and VMWare.
External service. #chotchki mentioned one, but there are many others.
My current favorite is 1b, but they are all workable.
To answer your question: VMs are a reasonable solution.
There a web service that already does this Browser Shots. You can also install the software on your own systems if you want to host your own.