Using EQUIP with VPNs and other network arrangements

Chris Greenhalgh, 2005-02-07

VPN...

I'll base this on what I see in windows...
A VPN connection looks in the routing/IP stack like another interface with its own IP address, etc.
If EQUIP does not appear to be picking up the VPN address (check the console output) then use the ConfigManager option:

localhost: IP-OF-MACHINE-ON-VPN

Unfortunately, with DHCP, this may change when the machine is restarted; sorry.
Configuration information is normally read from the file equip.eqconf in the directory identified by the EQUIP_PATH environment variable/Java property (defaults to the current working directory). Note that this is only read when the DataManager initialises, and so this may need to be forced by the application at start-up or it may not have been read before it is used. NB: make sure that the configuration file ends with a newline (or the last line will be silently ignored!).

Notes

Not all branches of EQUIP are up-to-date with respect to this, especially support changes in equip.discovery. If in doubt use a version of equip4j from a build of the CVS HEAD.

No multicast...

If your VPN (or other network) isn't supporting multicast then...

Equip Discovery

equip.discovery can make use of a unicast reflector as a rendezvous
1. Run the reflector; default port is 4170.

java equip.discovery.DiscoveryRendezvous <udp-port>

Program will print a discovery URL ("equipd://<rendezvous-ip>:<port>") that should be used to talk to it...
2. Configure the client, typically in the equip.eqconf file (see above)

...
discoveryUrls: equipd://<rendezvous-ip>:<port>
...

(Make sure there is a newline at the end of the file).

Streaming Media

There is now (another) RTP unicast bridge/reflector in CVS Equator/AccessGrid/multicast-bridge/MulticastBridge.java
Use that :-)