{"id":6205,"date":"2019-01-29T09:45:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T15:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/?p=6205"},"modified":"2019-02-14T16:30:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T22:30:57","slug":"how-to-configure-a-multicast-linux-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/how-to-configure-a-multicast-linux-network\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Configure a Multicast Linux Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Des Nnochiri<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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In a world where consumer-level computing technology has been largely dominated by Windows, many users remain unaware of the need for administrators to configure and maintain network hardware and environments based on the Linux operating system. But Linux in its various distributions and the Unix operating system from which they derive have for decades provided the backbone for the core systems that make consumer-level computing and indeed many aspects of daily life possible. Banking, record-keeping, aviation, urban infrastructure; for years, such essential services have been run on the basis of Unix and its offshoots.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As digital technology evolves, networks have been called upon to transmit increasing numbers of video, audio or data streams to multiple destinations, making the need for effective network configuration that much more critical. In this guide, we\u2019ll be looking at how to configure a Linux network, with a particular focus on what\u2019s known as multicast transactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Linux Networking Basics<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Linux can support multiple devices, easily managing multiple network interface adapters. Laptops set up for Linux will typically include both wired and wireless interfaces, and may also support WiMax interfaces for cellular networks. Not only do Linux desktop systems support multiple network interfaces, but they can also be used as a multi-network client or as a router for an internal network.<\/span><\/p>\n

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By convention, Linux device names are numbered, beginning at zero and counting upwards. So, for example, a system running two Ethernet cards could have two devices, labeled \/dev\/eth0 and \/dev\/eth1. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Network Interface Configuration Files<\/span><\/h2>\n

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(Image Source: <\/span>YoLinux.com<\/a><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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For Linux, every network interface has its own configuration file, which is stored in the \/etc\/sysconfig\/network-scripts directory. Other files in that directory are scripts used to start, stop, and perform various network configuration tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Each network interface has a configuration file named ifcfg-<interface-name>X. Here, X is the number of the interface, starting with zero or 1, depending on the naming convention that\u2019s in use.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This example file defines a static IP address configuration for a CentOS 6 server installation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image Source: <\/span>opensource.com<\/a><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Naming Conventions<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Over the years<\/a><\/span>, the naming conventions for Linux network interfaces have evolved from the initial simplicity of \u201cethX\u201d and its derivatives. Such names are still used by the CentOS 6.x distribution. But the newest naming conventions\u2014as used by Linux distributions such as RHEL 7, CentOS 7, and the more recent releases of Fedora\u2014have forms like eno1 and enp0s3.<\/span><\/p>\n

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These conventions are relevant, as the addition of a new network interface often forces the renaming of existing interfaces , with the attendant risk of breaking links and syntax in associated network scripts and configurations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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Knowing What to Configure<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Linux interface configuration files offer a range of options , and as with any network, establishing which aspects to configure constitutes much of the hard work. Options for Red Hat Linux-based distributions will serve as an example. Among the more common configuration options are:<\/span><\/p>\n

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