Traffic Generation - Multicast
IPerf / JPerf
IPerf / JPerf can send and receive multicast data. To do this, the IPerf server must bind to a multicast address.
Sender: iperf.exe -c 224.0.55.55 -u -T 32 -t 3 -i 1
Receiver: iperf.exe -s -u -B 224.0.55.55 -i 1
It correctly sends IGMP join messages (at least in WinXP).
See http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2006/09/generating-multicast-traffic.html for more details.
However, IPerf doesn't handle low bitrates very well and it is hard to be sure a steady stream of packets is being sent as it averages the bit rate across packets.
IPerf is the command line interface, while JPerf is the GUI interface. Both can send and receive multicast packets.
Link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/iperf/
mc-tos
mc-tos can send multicast packets at defined intervals with a user-specified TOS. The packets contain the time that data is sent. The same program can receive multicast packets and if required set the receiving computers clock to the time it receives.
Sender: mc-tos.exe -s
Receiver: mc-tos.exe -r
It correctly sends IGMP join messages.
Link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mctool/
VLC Player
VLC Player can send and receive multicast video and music streams.
Sender: vlc.exe -vvv video.avi --sout udp:239.255.12.42 -ttl 12 --input-repeat 300
Receiver: vlc.exe -vvv udp://@239.255.12.42
It correctly sends IGMP join messages. However if the data rate is too high the video becomes blocky, even if there is no bandwidth limitation.
Link: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Tight Projector
Tight Projector was created by the same people who wrote TightVNC. Simlar to TightVNC, it captures the screen and sends it over IP. Unlike TightVNC it sends this data over multicast. Because there are short delays before taking screengrabs it is not suitable for playing video. However it is very useful in a classroom situation where all students need to see the same screen, or demonstration sessions where the viewers are not be permitted to interact with the session.
Tight Projector and TightViewer are GUI programs although they can be run from the command line.
The demo version is limited to 20 minutes per execution, the full version is around $20 which is very reasonable.