Using multicasting to provide ethernet-like communication behavior to selected peers on a network

Abstract

Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide a Supernet, a private network constructed out of components from a public-network infrastructure. Supernet nodes can be located on virtually any device in the public network (e.g., the Internet), and both their communication and utilization of resources occur in a secure manner. The Supernet also uses multicast communication to create Ethernet-like communication between its nodes. In using multicasting, each communication of each node on a channel in the private network is sent to a multicast address which sends it to all of the nodes on the channel. Sending a copy of every communication to all of the other nodes on the channel makes system tasks, like debugging, easy for the nodes on the channel. The multicasting provided by the private network is dynamic in that multicast addresses can be assigned for use by a channel and reclaimed so as to allow sharing of the multicast addresses.