Editing Mbone

{{Short description|Former computer network
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{{About|M-Bone|the rapper of the same name|Cali Swag District}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}[[File:Annonce_d%27une_session_Poietic_Generator_sur_le_Mbone_(_f%C3%A9vrier_1996).png|thumb|Mbone session directory (sd), February 1996]]
'''Mbone''' (short for "[[multicast]] backbone") was an experimental [[Backbone network|backbone]] and [[Overlay network|virtual network]] built on top of the Internet for carrying [[IP multicast]] traffic on the [[Internet]]. It was developed in the early 1990s and required specialized hardware and software.<ref name="nyt95">Lewis, Peter H. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/08/business/business-technology-peering-out-a-real-time-window.html "Peering Out a 'Real Time' Window"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', 8 February 1995. Retrieved 26 August 2009.</ref> Since the operators of most Internet [[Router (computing)|router]]s have disabled IP multicast due to concerns regarding bandwidth tracking and billing, the Mbone was created to connect multicast-capable networks over the existing Internet infrastructure.<ref name="nyt95" />

==History==
Mbone was created by [[Van Jacobson]], [[Steve Deering]] and Stephen Casner in 1992 based on a suggestion by [[Allison Mankin]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Casner|first1=Stephen|last2=Deering|first2=Stephen|title=First IETF Internet Audiocast|journal=ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review|date=July 1992|volume=22|issue=3|pages=92–97|doi=10.1145/142267.142338|s2cid=8746059 }}</ref>

During March 16–20, 1992 the first significant use of the MBONE took place from the [https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/23.pdf Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting in San Diego] with [https://sites.cs.ucsb.edu/~almeroth/classes/S99.290I/art1.html 20 sites listening.]

On May 23, 1993, ''[[Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees]]'' was streamed over the Mbone,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wax, or the Discovery of Television among the Bees {{!}} transmediale |url=https://archive.transmediale.de/content/wax-or-the-discovery-of-television-among-the-bees-0 |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=archive.transmediale.de}}</ref> becoming "the first movie to be transmitted on the Internet."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Markoff |first=John |date=1993-05-24 |title=Cult Film Is a First On Internet |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/24/business/cult-film-is-a-first-on-internet.html |access-date=2022-06-23 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On June 24, 1993, the band [[Severe Tire Damage (band)|Severe Tire Damage]] was the first to perform live on the Mbone.

On November 11, 1993 [[Sky Cries Mary]] performed on the Mbone from Bellevue, WA sponsored by Starwave.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Net-Gain-Seattle-s-Sky-Cries-Mary-gets-more-3021420.php | title=Net Gain / Seattle's Sky Cries Mary gets more than a little help from Microsoft founders | work=SFGATE | date=29 October 1995 }}</ref>

On August 23, 1994, the band [[Deth Specula]] broadcast the first live concert over the Mbone.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/22/arts/rolling-stones-live-on-internet-both-a-big-deal-and-a-little-deal.html&scp=1&sq=deth+specula&st=nyt Strauss, Neil, "Rolling Stones Live on Internet: Both a Big Deal and a Little Deal", New York Times, Nov 22, 1994, p. C15.]</ref><ref>[http://www.newsweek.com/id/112498?tid=relatedcl Hafner, Katie, "The MBone: Can't You Hear It Knocking", Newsweek, Dec 5, 1994.]</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.deth.com/forum-gig.html
|title=S.F. BAY AREA BAND DETH SPECULA ROCKS THE INTERNET WITH LIVE, COMPUTER NETWORK BROADCAST
|access-date= 2008-03-30 
|author=Malcom McCameron
|date= 1994-08-23
|publisher=Deth Specula (http://www.deth.com)
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.iuma.com/deth-mbone/
|title=Deth Specula Live at the SCO Forum
|access-date= 2008-04-19 
|author=Internet Underground Music Archive 
|author-link=Internet Underground Music Archive 
|date= 1994-08-23
|publisher=Internet Underground Music Archive
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19990202093957/http://www.iuma.com/deth-mbone/
|archive-date= 1999-02-02
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.mediacast.com/Company/
|title=MediaCast Company Information
|access-date= 2008-03-30 
|author=Jon R. Luini
|date= 1994-08-23
|publisher=MediaCast (http://www.mediacast.com)
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/music-livestreaming-coronavirus/
|title=How Livestreaming Is Bridging the Gap Between Bands and Fans During the Coronavirus Outbreak
|access-date= 2020-07-24
|author=Cherie Hu
|date= 2020-03-17
|publisher=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]
}}</ref>

A November 1994 [[Rolling Stones]] concert at the [[Cotton Bowl (stadium)|Cotton Bowl]] in [[Dallas]] with 50,000 fans was the "first major cyberspace multicast concert." [[Mick Jagger]] opened the concert by saying, "I wanna say a special welcome to everyone that's, uh, climbed into the Internet tonight and, uh, has got into the M-bone. And I hope it doesn't all collapse."<ref name="nyt95"/>

A year later the Mbone was used, this time symmetrically (simultaneous transmission and reception without hierarchy among participants), for a first experience of real-time graphical interaction without the intermediary of any Center ([[Poietic Generator]]<ref>"gp" IP Multicast version of the Poietic Generator, developed for the Internet Mbone (1995): ([http://www.infres.enst.fr/~dax/guides/multicast/mdownload.html Telecom ParisTech server])</ref><ref>Announcement of a session on the Mbone (February 1996). Screenshot of the "session directory" (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory): (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poietic_Generator#/media/File:Annonce_d%27une_session_Poietic_Generator_sur_le_Mbone_(_f%C3%A9vrier_1996).png)</ref>).

By 1995, there were M-bone links in [[Russia]], as well as at the [[McMurdo Sound]] research station in [[Antarctica]].<ref name="nyt95"/> Mbone was predominantly used by research and scientific entities, including NASA. {{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Mbone was used for shared communication such as [[video teleconference]]s or shared collaborative workspaces. It was not generally connected to commercial [[Internet service provider]]s, but often to universities and research institutions. Some other projects and network testbeds, such as [[Internet2]]'s [[Abilene Network]], made Mbone obsolete.

A "virtual room video conferencing system" (VRVS) started operation in 1997 using the Mbone, and was in operation through 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |title= VRVS Frequently Asked Questions |url= http://www.vrvs.org/Documentation/faq.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080222145753/http://www.vrvs.org/Documentation/faq.html |archivedate= February 22, 2008 |accessdate= May 25, 2013 }}</ref>

A revived ''mboned'' (mbone deployment) working group was chartered by the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] in 2014, as a forum to coordinate and document multicast deployment challenges and best practices.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MBONE Deployment |url=https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/charter-ietf-mboned/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=datatracker.ietf.org |language=en}}</ref>

==Details==
The purpose of Mbone was to minimize the amount of data required for multipoint audio/video-conferencing.<ref name="nyt95" />

Mbone was free and it used a network of routers that support IP multicast, and it enables access to real-time interactive multimedia on the Internet. Many older routers do not support [[IP multicast]]. To cope with this, [[Tunneling protocol|tunnels]] must be set up on both ends: multicast packets are encapsulated in unicast packets and sent through a tunnel. Mbone uses a small subset of the [[Classful network#Classes|class D IP address space]] (224.0.0.0–239.255.255.255) assigned for [[Multicast address|multicast traffic]]. Mbone uses 224.2.0.0 for multimedia conferencing.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}}

===Characteristics===
* [[Network topology|topology]]: a combination of [[Mesh network|mesh]] and [[Star network|star]] networks
* [[IP address]]es: 224.2.0.0
* routing schemes: [[Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol|DVMRP]], [[Multicast Open Shortest Path First|MOSPF]]
* [[session registration]]: [[Internet Group Management Protocol|IGMP]]
* traffic requirement: audio 32-64&nbsp;kbit/s, video 120&nbsp;kbit/s

===Mbone tools===
* [[Videoconferencing]]: vic -t ttl destination-host/port (supports: NV, [[H.261]], [[CellB]], [[MPEG]], [[mJPEG]])
* [[Audioconferencing]]: vat -t ttl destination-host/port (supports: [[Linear predictive coding|LPC]], [[PCMU]], [[DVI4]], [[GSM]])
* [[Whiteboard]]: wb destination-host/port/ttl
* [[Session Directory]]: sdr
* Collective art : gp ([[Poietic Generator]])

==See also==
* [[CastGate]]—an attempt at providing connectivity to the multicast network for hosts which have none

{{Portal|1990s}}

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*''[http://www.savetz.com/mbone/ MBONE: Multicasting Tomorrow's Internet]'': Classic book about MBONE, by Kevin Savetz, Neil Randall, and Yves Lepage, complete on-line
*[https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/mboned/about/ IETF MBONE Deployment working group]
*[http://www.live555.com/mbone/ How to connect to the MBone]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190607072610/http://www.AccessGrid.org/ AccessGrid.org]
*[http://www.isoc.org/inet95/proceedings/PAPER/227/html/paper.html Making the MBone Real]—Ajit S. Thyagarajan, Stephen L. Casner, and Stephen E. Deering, Proc. INET '95. Internet Society. May 10, 1995

===Historical clients===
*[http://www-nrg.ee.lbl.gov/ LBNL's tools]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100615053705/http://www-mice.cs.ucl.ac.uk/multimedia/software/ MICE's tools]
*[http://www.infres.enst.fr/~dax/guides/multicast/mdownload.html Telecom Paristech (ex-ENST Paris)]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Internet architecture]]