[CentOS] Is avahi essential?

Gordon Messmer yinyang at eburg.com
Fri Jan 13 18:22:16 UTC 2012


On 01/11/2012 03:42 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> As far as I can see, it is some sort of rival to dhcpd.

No, DHCP is used to assign network addresses and routes (and other 
optional configuration items).

mDNS is used to discover services using IP multicast.

> Is it only used within local LANs?

Unless you've done additional multicast configuration, yes.

> Is it used, for example, by CUPS to identify printers?

Yes, it's common for recent network printers to advertise themselves 
using mDNS.

> When, if ever, would it be used in a home network?

If two PCs were running a collaborative editor, like gobby, they'll use 
mDNS to find each other.

Chat clients such as GNOME's and iChat will locate other chat clients on 
the LAN if configured to do so.

Rhythmbox will use mDNS to locate DAAP servers for media.



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