Ghostcast server died!

[ryan_powell]

Hi guys. Ok we've been working on this all summer and I've noticed other users having simiar (although not exacty the same) problem.

We've been using GhostCast server 8.2 for many months with no problems, ghosting on average between 1 and 12 computers at a time and taking between 10 and 20 minutes to complete.

Recently however things seem to have gone bottoms up. At first the speed shot up taking 2 or 3 hours. Now Ghostcast wont send an image to any more than 1 pc at a time. The clients can boot into PC DOS and access the session and join it, however once the required number of clients connect they just report "waiting for GhostCast Session to start..." but nothing actually happens. On the server it says "GhostCast in progress" but again nothing happens, no files are transfered and the percentage bar doesn't increase at all.

Possible causes:
> New USB wireless print server added to the network
> Dodgy windows update?
> Damaged network card / cable / switch
> Wrong driver
> Wrong HDD type (IDE / SATA)

We've investigated all these possibilities and have ruled each 1 out. Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks.

[timzim]

Have you installed any new network switches? Some don't allow multicasting, although the option can be turned off with managed switches.

[ryan_powell]

No the only new network component added is the USB wireless print server which we've now turned off to see if it causes the problem.

[timzim]

Did you add/change any virus scanning software on the server? I know McAfee TVD by default blocks the ports Ghost uses to talk to the network.

[ryan_powell]

Thanks Timzim, do you know what the ports are that Ghost uses, I'll check it against our firewall and sophos AV.

Thanks

[timzim]

I think 6666 & 6667 but it may use others as well.

You might have to check Symantec's support site for more info.

[Geoff]

Same ports as Internet Relay Chat if your doing any 'filtering'.

[ryan_powell]

Hi, sorry for the slow reply but I'm in the process of defragmenting our ghost server and it's proving to be a slow process. I'll let you know how I get on with the allowing IRC after the defrag completes.

I've had a look around it turns out that Win Media Player 11 (and probably older) can recieve multicast streams, could it possible that media player is either intercepting or some how blocking multicast packets?

Also had a look at our managed switches and there are some multicast filtering options enabled which i've now disabled.

I'll report back once the defrag completes.

Thanks