Seeking a p2p program to run exclusively on a LAN

[klowne]

Hi, at university we have a large LAN connected to the internet through a transparent gateway. They are very strict about p2p programs (presumably due to bandwidth expenses and network slowdowns) and their standard response to detecting them is to permanently disconnect the user from the network.

Presently most people run iTunes which only shares its collection within the local network - it doesnt connect to anything outside the LAN and as a result noone gets into trouble. People then download using MyTunes. This is fine except it only works for MP3 and AAC files and the latest version has some annoying restrictions.

I was wondering if anyone could suggest a p2p program that can be run and easily set up on the computers in the LAN that will definately not connect to the internet and get anyone into trouble, lets us share anything we want and hopefully doesn't have any spyware, etc.

Thanks

[TankGirl]

WASTE works fine on a LAN; it uses only IP numbers that you give to it (so no unexpected Internet connection attempts); it is fully decentralized, so no need to run any server; you can share any file types on it; it has group and 1-to-1 chat; it is open source and contains no ad- or spyware; and as an additional bonus all traffic between users is encrypted so only the users in your sharing group will know what you are chatting or sharing.

- tg

[larytet]

Try Rodi
all relevant links here
http://larytet.sourceforge.net/tryRodi.shtml

500K of binary if you run GUI and ~300K without GUI
0% CPU all the time, under 30M of RAM - usually in 25-30M range

multisource download is supported

the network is searchable and does not require any servers/super nodes/etc
to search the network you need only port number of the peer(s), for example 31211 and IP subnet, for example 192.168.0.0, no permanent IPs are required

client is implemented in Java and tested both on Windows and Linux
number of peers in the network is not limited (scalability of the current code was tested for ~1000 peers)

supports both standalone and applet mode - yes you can run it directly from any HTTP server without installing anything. you sit in your Univesity lab, you have a couple of minutes, you go to SF.net, you run 300K Java applet (CLI engine), a couple of commands and you are connected to your PC at home or any PC in the network.

feel free to ask questions on the discussion boards linked above

P.S. and i forgot the most important thing - you do not need any forums and discussion boards to use Rodi network, you don't need registration, you dont' have to worry about somebody loggin your IP address when you post your public key or PGP signature. Rodi is free as in Freedom open source project and available for everybody from SourceForge servers.

[klowne]

Thanks guys, I'll let you know if I run into any trouble trying these.

Slightly more preferable though would be if I didnt need to specify the IPs so that the word could spread about the program and people easily set it up. Am I right in thinking that Rodi could do this with everyone using the same port so people setting it up only need to know that?

[miss_silver]

default port

:1337

Good luck klowne

If you ever run into any problems, try this thread for waste setup to get you started... http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...ad.php?t=19077

[larytet]

Originally Posted by klowne

Thanks guys, I'll let you know if I run into any trouble trying these.

Slightly more preferable though would be if I didnt need to specify the IPs so that the word could spread about the program and people easily set it up. Am I right in thinking that Rodi could do this with everyone using the same port so people setting it up only need to know that?

yes that's right. rodi client finds peers using IP scan. For example, let's say that your network is 10.19.x.x or up to 64K hosts. with 10Mbit/s connection you can find all peers assuming that port is known in 5s (see http://larytet.sourceforge.net/useCa...torlooktraffic)
This is pefect for LANs. you do not need any centralized server where peers should register, etc.

Usually subnets you will have to scan are going to be much smaller. For example, 192.168.11.x , 192.168.41.x, etc. 254 peers per range.
Peer is searchable immediately afer it run the client. If asked peer does not have what you are searching for peer will send you set of IPs of other peers. This way the moment you find one peer in the netwok you learn more IPs and so on.

[larytet]

Originally Posted by miss_silver

default port

:1337

Good luck klowne

If you ever run into any problems, try this thread for waste setup to get you started... http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...ad.php?t=19077

Default port in WASTE does not help lot, because you need still somebodys' IP address to connect to the network and usually this is permanent IP of running 24/7 host.

because network is essentially small isoltaed groups you will have to find and join group with content you are looking for and this is not an easy task. Rodi network is fully searchable. Your ability to search the network is only limited by upstream you have (see my previous post).

Performance of the WASTE network degrades quickly when you add hosts. My wild uneducated guess that for LAN 100 hosts is probably all you can do.

Not to say that WASTE is useless. If you are a group of dissidents who want to talk with each other and dsitribute doc or pdf file once in a while WASTE is fine.

[td4guy]

Personally, I found Rodi very confusing. But perhaps I'm just dumb.

I set up a WASTE network at my university, with currently 150-200 members. It works very, very well. WASTE will remember everyone's IP address, and it will automatically attempt to establish connections to them if configured properly. I estimate that WASTE can support up to 250 people before experiencing significant performance degradation on a LAN.

Slightly more preferable though would be if I didnt need to specify the IPs so that the word could spread about the program and people easily set it up.

You're just asking for trouble there. The good thing about a WASTE network is that only trusted members may join. This does not include people from the RIAA, MPAA, and your university network people. This is a good thing.

As for ease of setup, this can be accomplished by writing and distributing a tutorial like I did. It contains easy-to-follow steps on how to configure WASTE properly. If you need help with this, I would be glad to assist.

Oh, and one more thing... We use port 3688, because it looks somewhat like we're using iTunes, which operates on port 3689. It's just a little trick to help keep the university network people off of our backs.

[larytet]

Originally Posted by td4guy

Personally, I found Rodi very confusing.

what was the major obstacle ? at what point you gave up ?

Originally Posted by td4guy

The good thing about a WASTE network is that only trusted members may join. This does not include people from the RIAA, MPAA, and your university network people. This is a good thing.

Rodi suppots military grade signatures to authenticate the packets if you want to run private hub/closed group of friends.

In Rodi peer can also spoof IP source address. In Rodi seed can control how many bouncers and what exactly bouncers are used to proxy the traffic.

trick with port number is not going to work. my understanding is that iTunes and WASTE both have well known and easily regonizable packet signatures. IP sniffer on the edge of the network will show IP's of all particpating hosts.

[Malk-a-mite]

Originally Posted by larytet

my understanding is that iTunes and WASTE both have well known and easily regonizable packet signatures. IP sniffer on the edge of the network will show IP's of all particpating hosts.

Yes WASTE has a very distinct signature.
But since the actual data is encrypted all you really get is.
NetAdmin_1 - "Look it's WASTE!"
NetAdmin_2 - "What are the transfering?"
NetAdmin_1 - "...ummm..... files?"

[larytet]

Originally Posted by Malk-a-mite

Yes WASTE has a very distinct signature.
But since the actual data is encrypted all you really get is.
NetAdmin_1 - "Look it's WASTE!"
NetAdmin_2 - "What are the transfering?"
NetAdmin_1 - "...ummm..... files?"

right. encrypted payload does not help if ISP implements traffic shaper and starts to drop the packets. generally you can not complain that your ISP drops packets of WASTE, because they can ask in turn what do you send in these packets that you reach 60GB/month traffic.

another problem with WASTE, that it gives you illusion that you are protected and this is not the case. in reality you are not signifcantly more protected than in case of DC hub with limited access. If one peer in the group is compromised the whole group (or cell if you wish) is exposed - IP addresses of all participating peers can eventually be collected.

i am not trying to tell that WASTE is bad. it has it's applications.

in my opinion WASTE for LAN is overkill. besides in LAN any node can spoof IP source. what do you need routing stuff for if you can effectivelty hide your IP address.


I understand that WASTE has only Windows based implementation, am i right ?

WASTE as a network does not exist. WASTE is divided by small groups. this is in the same time strength and weak point. The whole network is not searchable and content available is limited by files stored on the peers belonging to the group.
New content can enter the group only from outside. It means exposure of at least one peer belonging to the group.

still i am ready to accept idea that WASTE is the best application ever created. i have no problem with that. you like WASTE, you feel save when you use it ? go ahead.

i would suggest to close the discussion related to WASTE at this point. it's getting too long and is completely out of this topic issue.

[JackSpratts]

Originally Posted by larytet

i would suggest to close the discussion related to WASTE at this point. it's getting too long and is completely out of this topic issue.

not only is "waste as lan" directly on topic it's also a very good suggestion. resource use is low, speeds are fairly high and security is more than adequate for an open, trusted environment. your criticism is noted but the thread will remain open for further mature explorations of waste, groove or any other client applicable in a lan environment, including rodi.

welcome to the forums larytet.

- js.

[klowne]

In trying Waste I found the speeds to be very slow. Whilst I only tested it once and so might have suffered poor network conditions I couldn't transfer over 200kB/s on a 10Mb lan whereas mytunes usually gets about 900kB/s. I blamed this on the encryption which whilst probably being useful over the internet was complete overkill for my application. I do not think the authorities here care so long as the university's internet connection is not destroyed or too expensive and they're not liable for condoning stuff, etc.

I'm in the process of testing Rodi at the moment and will let you know how that goes.

[larytet]

Originally Posted by klowne

I couldn't transfer over 200kB/s on a 10Mb lan whereas mytunes usually gets about 900kB/s.

in my tests i reach 800Kbyte/s. i can improve transfer rates relatively easy, just let me know.
Setup Wizard in version 0.3.13 creates file rodiCore.script containing something like this

conf uld connections 10
conf uld upstream 200
conf dld connecitons 10
conf dld downstream 200
conf dld saveto C:\rodi\CVSROOT\rodiMng\timple\dld
script file:/C:/rodi/CVSROOT/peers.hosts.script
script file:/C:/rodi/CVSROOT/peers.trustees.script
script file:/C:/rodi/CVSROOT/publish.script

look the first 4 lines. you will probaly want to correct them. upstream and downstream parameters are in KBytes/s. In the example above max allowed upstream and downstream is 200KBytes. and number of simultaneous upload/download sessions is 10.

Current implementation of data transfer is somewhat more sensitive to the number of connections, than BT. BT can max up downstream with 4-5 streams. In Rodi every stream will give you ~45Kbytes/s.
It means that with 10 connections your max rate will be somewhere in 400-500K region

Pay attention also that all threads in Rodi run in low priority. It means that Rodi will surrender CPU to any other application. If you find this inconvenient, let me know.

[Jader]

Try ShareScan. It's like a glorifed Explorer without having to click all the clients with shared folders.

http://www.filelibrary.com:8080/cgi-...0/ss2_45in.zip

Doesn't use the internet and browses all shared files/folders on the network.

[larytet]

....ShareScan is a simple network security tool. It provides a very fast way, via multi-threaded processing, to detect shared (Windows) network resources, that could provide a potential security threat to your network. Scanning can be of any number of connected computers represented by a range of IP addresses. However, the evaluation version is limited to the first 10 IP addresses in ...

[larytet]

release 0.3.17 is out
SetupWizard makes installation very simple process
- download release from https://sourceforge.net/projects/larytet/
- unzip archive in any folder
- click runRodiWin32.bat
- click Setup Wizard button on the Connect panel

[larytet]

Originally Posted by klowne

In trying Waste I found the speeds to be very slow. Whilst I only tested it once and so might have suffered poor network conditions I couldn't transfer over 200kB/s on a 10Mb lan whereas mytunes usually gets about 900kB/s. I blamed this on the encryption which whilst probably being useful over the internet was complete overkill for my application. I do not think the authorities here care so long as the university's internet connection is not destroyed or too expensive and they're not liable for condoning stuff, etc.

I'm in the process of testing Rodi at the moment and will let you know how that goes.

the following screenshot was taken on a Windows XP box - single CPU laptop. 8 Rodi clients run on the same PC, 1300KBytes upstream (~15Mbit)

http://larytet.sourceforge.net/image...ents_1300K.PNG

[larytet]

Originally Posted by td4guy

The good thing about a WASTE network is that only trusted members may join. This does not include people from the RIAA, MPAA, and your university network people. This is a good thing.

you can create hub with restricted access using Rodi. Ask your friends to send you their public keys (or post public keys on any HTTP/FTP server), add keys to the list of the trusted peers, configure your client to accept request only from trusted peers.

see more on privacy in the Rodi network here
http://larytet.sourceforge.net/userM...doesitbesecure

[larytet]

2 single CPU PCs - seed and leacher, ~200MB file
downloader runs at 18Mbits/s, CPU at ~20% (including Real Altrenative Media Player runnign in the background)

http://larytet.sourceforge.net/image...k_300Mdata.PNG