Multicast DNS

Multicast DNS (mDNS) is a way of using familiar DNS programming interfaces, packet formats and operating , in a small network where no conventional DNS server has been installed. The mDNS protocol is used by Apple's Bonjour and Linux Avahi service discovery systems

Discovery

Host Discovery

Using mDNS allows to determine the IP address of a host without the help of a centralized DNS server. A machine looking for a given host sends a mDNS multicast query message. The corresponding host replies with a multicast message announcing itself. With this, all machines in the subnet can update their mDNS cache with the host's information.

A host can clear its announcement to a network by sending a response packet with a Time To Live (TTL) equal to zero.

MDNS uses the reserved namespace .local.

Service discovery

DNS-SD allows to build a list of hosts providing a given service.

The query message is similar to the host discovery message, but the QTYPE is 0x000C (PTR) instead of 0x0001 (A).

Packet Structure

The mDNS Ethernet frame is a multicast UDP packet to:

• MAC address 01:00:5E:00:00:FB
• IPv4 address 224.0.0.251 or IPv6 address FF02::FB
• UDP port 5353

Its structure is based on the DNS packet format. It is built out of 2 parts: header and data.

offset (bytes)	0	1
0	ID = 0x0000
2	Flags
4	QDCOUNT
6	ANCOUNT
8	NSCOUNT
10	ARCOUNT
12	Data

The flags are all 0 except for:

• the first bit, Query/Response (QR), which is 0 for a query and 1 for a response
• the sixth bit, Authoritative Answer (AR), which is equal to the bit QR

The data is The UTF-8 list of the parts of the name preceeded by the length of the item. In a question, the name is terminated with a 0x00 and followed by QTYPE which is 0x0001 for a host address, and QCLASS which is 0x0001 for Internet.

Example: Host Discovery

Trying a ping to appletv.local will force the computer to send a mDNS question with UDP payload:

00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00  00 00 00 00 07 61 70 70
6c 65 74 76 05 6c 6f 63  61 6c 00 00 01 00 01

In the header, Flags are zero, QDCOUNT is 1 and all other counts are zero. In the data, the string appletv is preceeded by its length 0x07 and local by 0x05. The name is followed by hex 00 00 01 00 01.

The queried device can respond:

00 00 84 00 00 00 00 01  00 00 00 02 07 41 70 70
6c 65 54 56 05 6c 6f 63  61 6c 00 00 01 80 01 00
00 00 78 00 04 99 6d 07  5a c0 0c 00 1c 80 01 00
00 00 78 00 10 fe 80 00  00 00 00 00 00 02 23 32
ff fe b1 21 52 c0 0c 00  2f 80 01 00 00 00 78 00
08 c0 0c 00 04 40 00 00  08

In the header, Flags has bits QR and AR set, ANCOUNT is 1, ARCOUNT is 2 and all other counts are zero.

The data is built out of 3 items: the answer and 2 additional records.

The answer consists of:

• the string AppleTV, preceeded by its length 0x07, the string local, preceeded by length 0x05, and end of string delimiter 0x00
• the type 0x0001, address (A)
• the class 0x8001, Ethernet, with MSB set (mDNS-specific)
• the Time To Live (TTL) 0x00007800
• the length 0x0004
• the IP address 0x996D075A

The first additional record is:

• a link to the name at position 12, 0xC00C
• the type 0x001C, IPv6 address (AAAA)
• the class 0x8001, Ethernet
• the TTL 0x00007800
• the length 0x0010
• the IP address 0xFE80000000000000022332FFFEB12152

The second additional record is:

• a link to the name at position 12, 0xC00C
• the type 0x002F, name section (NSEC)
• the class 0x8001, Ethernet
• the TTL 0x00007800
• the length 0x0008
• the block and bitmap 0xC00C000440000008

Example: Service discovery

Launching a Bonjour or Avahi browser on a freshly started machine which has no mDNS cache will fire a DNS based Service Discovery (DNS-SD) request in the form of an UDP packet with a payload such as:

00000   00 00 00 00 00 02 00 05  00 00 00 00 09 5f 73 65    ............._se
00010   72 76 69 63 65 73 07 5f  64 6e 73 2d 73 64 04 5f    rvices._dns-sd._
00020   75 64 70 05 6c 6f 63 61  6c 00 00 0c 00 01 01 62    udp.local......b
00030   c0 16 00 0c 00 01 c0 0c  00 0c 00 01 00 00 11 94    ................
00040   00 14 0c 5f 77 6f 72 6b  73 74 61 74 69 6f 6e 04    ..._workstation.
00050   5f 74 63 70 c0 23 c0 0c  00 0c 00 01 00 00 11 94    _tcp.#..........
00060   00 07 04 5f 72 66 62 c0  4f c0 0c 00 0c 00 01 00    ..._rfb.O.......
00070   00 11 94 00 07 04 5f 73  73 68 c0 4f c0 0c 00 0c    ......_ssh.O....
00080   00 01 00 00 11 94 00 0c  09 5f 73 66 74 70 2d 73    ........._sftp-s
00090   73 68 c0 4f c0 0c 00 0c  00 01 00 00 11 94 00 09    sh.O............
000a0   06 5f 6f 64 69 73 6b c0  4f                         ._odisk.O

A possible answer to this request could be:

00000   00 00 84 00 00 01 00 03  00 00 00 00 09 5f 73 65    ............._se
00010   72 76 69 63 65 73 07 5f  64 6e 73 2d 73 64 04 5f    rvices._dns-sd._
00020   75 64 70 05 6c 6f 63 61  6c 00 00 0c 00 01 c0 0c    udp.local.......
00030   00 0c 00 01 00 00 00 0a  00 13 0b 5f 61 66 70 6f    ..........._afpo
00040   76 65 72 74 63 70 04 5f  74 63 70 c0 23 c0 0c 00    vertcp._tcp.#...
00050   0c 00 01 00 00 00 0a 00  07 04 5f 66 74 70 c0 46    .........._ftp.F
00060   c0 0c 00 0c 00 01 00 00  00 0a 00 07 04 5f 73 6d    ............._sm
00070   62 c0 46                                            b.F

indicating that the corresponding machine provides Apple Filing Protocol, File Transfer Protocol and SAMBA file sharing.

See also

• Zeroconf

External links

• Multicast DNS
• New DNS Technologies in the LAN