AppleTalk is a discontinued proprietary suite of networking protocols developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. AppleTalk includes a number of features that allow local area networks to be connected with no prior setup or the need for a centralized router or server of any sort. Connected AppleTalk-equipped systems automatically assign addresses, update the distributed namespace, and configure any required inter-networking routing.
Mac OS X Server is a series of discontinued Unix-like server operating systems developed by Apple Inc. based on macOS. It provided server functionality and system administration tools, and tools to manage both macOS-based computers and iOS-based devices, network services such as a mail transfer agent, AFP and SMB servers, an LDAP server, and a domain name server, as well as server applications including a Web server, database, and calendar server.
The Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) is a network protocol based on the Internet protocol suite for advertisement and discovery of network services and presence information. It accomplishes this without assistance of server-based configuration mechanisms, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Domain Name System (DNS), and without special static configuration of a network host. SSDP is the basis of the discovery protocol of Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and is intended for use in residential or small office environments. It was formally described in an IETF Internet Draft by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard in 1999. Although the IETF proposal has since expired, SSDP was incorporated into the UPnP protocol stack, and a description of the final implementation is included in UPnP standards documents.
iChat is a discontinued instant messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. for use on its Mac OS X operating system. It supported instant text messaging over XMPP/Jingle or OSCAR (AIM) protocol, audio and video calling, and screen-sharing capabilities. It also allowed for local network discussion with users discovered through Bonjour protocols.
Zero-configuration networking (zeroconf) is a set of technologies that automatically creates a usable computer network based on the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) when computers or network peripherals are interconnected. It does not require manual operator intervention or special configuration servers. Without zeroconf, a network administrator must set up network services, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS), or configure each computer's network settings manually.
Mac OS X Jaguar is the third major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X 10.1 and preceded Mac OS X Panther. The operating system was released on August 23, 2002. It was available both for single-computer installations and in a "family pack" that allowed five installations on separate computers in one household. Jaguar was the first Mac OS X release to publicly use its code name in marketing and advertisements.
CUPS is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them to the appropriate printer.
The Service Location Protocol is a service discovery protocol that allows computers and other devices to find services in a local area network without prior configuration. SLP has been designed to scale from small, unmanaged networks to large enterprise networks. It has been defined in RFC 2608 and RFC 3224 as standards track document.
The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), formerly AppleTalk Filing Protocol, is a proprietary network protocol, and part of the Apple File Service (AFS), that offers file services for macOS, classic Mac OS, and Apple II computers. In OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and earlier, AFP was the primary protocol for file services. Starting with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Server Message Block (SMB) was made the primary file sharing protocol, with the ability to run an AFP server removed later in macOS 11 Big Sur. AFP supports Unicode file names, POSIX and access-control list permissions, resource forks, named extended attributes, and advanced file locking.
The Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) Protocol is a method used by clients to locate the URL of a configuration file using DHCP and/or DNS discovery methods. Once detection and download of the configuration file is complete, it can be executed to determine the proxy for a specified URL.
Service discovery is the process of automatically detecting devices and services on a computer network. It aims to reduce the manual configuration effort required from users and administrators. A service discovery protocol (SDP) is a network protocol that helps accomplish service discovery.
Avahi is a free zero-configuration networking (zeroconf) implementation, including a system for multicast DNS and DNS Service Discovery. It is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
Multicast DNS (mDNS) is a computer networking protocol that resolves hostnames to IP addresses within small networks that do not include a local name server. It is a zero-configuration service, using essentially the same programming interfaces, packet formats and operating semantics as unicast Domain Name System (DNS). It was designed to work as either a stand-alone protocol or compatible with standard DNS servers. It uses IP multicast User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets and is implemented by the Apple Bonjour and open-source Avahi software packages, included in most Linux distributions. Although the Windows 10 implementation was limited to discovering networked printers, subsequent releases resolved hostnames as well. mDNS can work in conjunction with DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD), a companion zero-configuration networking technique specified separately in RFC 6763.
Apple Open Directory is the LDAP directory service model implementation from Apple Inc. A directory service is software which stores and organizes information about a computer network's users and network resources and which allows network administrators to manage users' access to the resources.
The domain name .local is a special-use domain name reserved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) so that it may not be installed as a top-level domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. As such it is similar to the other special domain names, such as .localhost. However, .local has since been designated for use in link-local networking, in applications of multicast DNS (mDNS) and zero-configuration networking (zeroconf) so that DNS service may be established without local installations of conventional DNS infrastructure on local area networks.
Apple's Bonjour Sleep Proxy service is an open source component of zero-configuration networking, designed to assist in reducing power consumption of networked electronic devices. It allows a device providing services, such as file sharing, printer sharing, or remote log-in, to sleep, i.e. enter a low-power mode, while its services remain available, even world-wide, by registering with a sleep proxy server on the local network. The sleep proxy server continues to both advertise the services on the local network on behalf of the sleep host, and listen for incoming connections whether the services are available only locally or across the Internet. When any device attempts to use any proxied service, the proxy server wakes the sleeping device and the service works as if the sleeping device had remained fully powered.
AirPrint is a feature in Apple Inc.'s macOS and iOS operating systems for printing without installing printer-specific drivers.
RTP-MIDI is a protocol to transport MIDI messages within Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets over Ethernet and WiFi networks. It is completely open and free, and is compatible both with LAN and WAN application fields. Compared to MIDI 1.0, RTP-MIDI includes new features like session management, device synchronization and detection of lost packets, with automatic regeneration of lost data. RTP-MIDI is compatible with real-time applications, and supports sample-accurate synchronization for each MIDI message.
Network Device Interface (NDI) is a software specification developed by the technology company NewTek. It enables high-definition video to be transmitted, received, and communicated over a computer network with low latency and high quality. This royalty-free specification supports frame-accurate switching, making it suitable for live video production environments.
