atftpd 0.7.git20120829-2.1 / usr / share / doc / atftpd / README.MCAST

Atftp supports multicast transfer. This feature allows the server to
send a file to many clients at once. There are two ways of doing
multicast TFTP. One is documented in RFC2090 and the other is known
as MTFTP and documented in Intel's PXE specification. Atftp supports
both protocols.

RFC2090
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Multicast using RFC2090 is very similar to any other TFTP transfer. The
read request sent by the client contains an option to inform the server to
use multicast. The server will send configuration information (IP and
port) through the option acknowledge mechanism. The initial read
request is done at the same port as without multicast (port 69 in most
configuration). Data transfer is done at IP and port chosen by the
server.

When more clients connect to the server, atftpd tries to find a thread
currently sending the same file. If it exists, this thread will take
care of the new client. If not, a new thread is started for that new
client. It is possible to send many different files to many clients
when using multicast. Each file transfer uses a unique IP and port.

MTFTP
-----

The PXE specification uses a completely different (and incompatible
with RFC2090) way of doing things. Basically, the TFTP
request is sent at a different port than a normal TFTP request. Various
options like IP address, port and timeout value are fetched by the client
from a DHCP server. Server configuration is done with command line
arguments and a configuration file. It is much less flexible than
RFC2090 since configuration of the DHCP server must match the configuration
of atftpd. See the file mtftp.conf as an example. Most boot ROMs use this
method for multicast transfer since it is part of the PXE specification
(ftp://download.intel.com/labs/manage/wfm/download/pxespec.pdf).

Note: mtftp support starting in atftp 0.7 is experimental.