Discover Zeroconf/Bonjour Nodes?

Question

Is there an easy way to scan a given network for Bonjour/Zeroconf services?

I have a set of computers (Linux, Windows, Apple) and would like to auto-generate a list of all available Zeroconf-capable, networked nodes in my Intranet.

Solution 1

I haven't used it, but you might want to take a look at the Mono Project's Zeroconf library.

It looks like they have a query tool mzclient that may help you.

If nothing else, you should be able to build something in C# using that library.

Solution 2

If using Linux and the Avahi-Daemon, it looks like Avahi-Discover is worth an investigation.

You'll obviously have to download/install/launch it though. On Ubuntu/Debian, you can use the following:

% sudo apt-get install avahi-discover

And launch GUI with:

% avahi-discover

Solution 3

By far the most reliable method (I've tried all these, building a MDNS capable embedded product) is to use the opensource 'Bonjour'. This is the mDNSResponder daemon, and its available here:
http://opensource.apple.com/source/mDNSResponder/mDNSResponder-320.10/

mDNSResponder package has a Java JNI library and examples which let you poll all the available services.

Solution 4

@EdH, thanks for your post. I up voted it. I haven't tried Mono.Zeroconf yet, but I am positive that it will work since Bonjour/Zeroconf has changed very little in the last couple years. I am only looking for basic functionalities like service publish and discovery. The mzclient seems a nice location to start with. I dug out the git location for the source: mzclient on github . Hope this helps others looking for a similar solution :-)

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Comments

[Andrew Flanagan]

Not sure why this was downvoted... Please let me know why. If I'm wrong, I profit from being corrected. :-)

[DragoRaptor]

Anyone looking for zeroConf on .NET (C# so to speak) may also be interested in this ZeroConf on codeplex