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UDPCast
UDPCast is a network tool designed for efficient multicasting of disk images or large files across a LAN, leveraging UDP transport. It enables simultaneous data distribution to many clients without saturating network resources, which is especially useful for cloning systems or rapid software deployment..
UDPCast is an open-source utility facilitating multicast file transfers over networks using the UDP protocol. Unlike traditional unicast transmissions, multicasting with UDPCast can send data to multiple receivers simultaneously, which is highly efficient when deploying operating systems or distributing identical files to many machines at once. By utilizing UDP, it reduces transmission overhead and latency, albeit at the cost of error correction complexity.
Typically, UDPCast is employed in scenarios such as mass installation of system images in educational institutions, data centers, or network boot environments. It sends raw disk data or files from a sender machine to multiple receiving machines concurrently, often requiring boot media with UDPCast built-in. The simplicity of its design enables fast deployment with minimal setup.
Despite its efficiency, multicast transmissions via UDP are connectionless and do not guarantee delivery or order, so UDPCast often includes rudimentary error correction or resend features managed at the application layer. Proper network configuration, such as enabling IGMP and tuning switch multicast settings, is essential to optimize performance and reliability.