FAQ - Forban

http://www.foo.be/forban/

== Protocol ==

Q1. Why don't you use SSDP, Bonjour or any other existing

    service announce and discovery in Forban?

    Forban was first designed to rely on SSDP but we quickly

    discovered various limitation or overhead that limited

    us to use it. One the major limitation is the requirement

    to include a Host: entry in a SSDP Notify message.

    One of the main concept behind Forban is the ability to

    setup something quickly even if IP addresses behind are

    changing regularly. So we changed to a simple flooding

    announce message without auto-shut-off algorithm or

    ssdp:byebye scheme. We are using the old but functional

    broadcast in IPv4 that allows Forban to work even where 

    multicast is not properly switched.

    We choose to design a small and stateless announce protocol 

    that can be implemented without an XML parser or any complex

    state machine.

    For more information :

    http://www.gitorious.org/forban/forban/blobs/master/README

Q2. Why Forban is configured by default in opportunistic

    mode and getting all in files in its proximity?

    That was the core idea of Forban when the project started.

    When you start for the first time your Forban, it will fetch

    automatically all files from his proximity. This is quite

    important for very ephemeral connectivity. So the gossip

    operation or the epidemic algorithm is the standard way

    of operation. This was there to ensure a kind of persistence

    of the data replicated.

    If you don't want to use the opportunistic mode, there 

    is the shared mode, where you can propose files to

    be downloaded but where your Forban is not doing the

    replication of all the files in its surrounding. You

    can still download the files in a more conventional way

    using the web interface.

    To change between the two modes, you'll just need to

    set it in the configuration :

    mode = opportunistic

    or

    mode = shared

== Operation ==

Q3. Why can't I see any Forban while using the Wireless network?

    To discover Forban, there is a simple discovery service looking

    for specific broadcast packet in IPv4 and multicast packet in IPv6.

    Some Wireless network are blocking those packets between wireless

    clients. You must allow broadcast and/or multicast paquet on your

    Wireless access-point.

Q4. I can see Forban in the interface but it can't copy any files?

    The port used for communication is the TCP port 12555 using the

    standard HTTP protocol. Maybe you have a local firewall or packet

    filter on the machine blocking the TCP port 1255. The UDP port 12555

    is also used for the discovery.

== Security ==

Q5. Forban can be used to automatically distribute malware or

    viruses?

    Yes but just like any other opportunistic file exchange scheme

    or even HTTP services. This can be used as an easy way to exchange

    malware or viruses. User must always use the appropriate measure

    to protect his computer or mobile device (e.g. using a filter 

    list in Forban, using an updated antivirus).

If you have any question or ideas, send them to adulau @ foo . be