iTechNote

MSDN has released a guide on how to harness the power of P2P in Windows Vista for developers. Microsoft P2P solution intends to reduce the barriers that are common to traditional P2P applications.

Traditionally, challenges to P2P application development have included the need to develop proprietary protocols for message exchange, having to locate and connect with instances of an application that are hidden behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) or a firewall, and the need to support the inevitable infrastructure required to locate applications in a wide-area network (WAN). These challenges, while surmountable, have represented a substantial barrier, and as a result, many of us never consider the amazing collaborative functionality P2P applications provide.

These barriers will be dramatically reduced with Windows Vista™ and the accompanying .NET Framework 3.0 release. The combination of Windows Vista enhancements to Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP), People Near Me (PNM), and the introduction of PeerChannel in Windows® Communication Foundation have made P2P applications much more approachable.

PNRP has been around since Windows XP Service Pack 1 in the form of Advanced Networking Pack. However, while the feature is disabled by default in Windows XP, it’s enabled by default in the Windows Vista. You can check out this page on how to enable it on your Windows XP machine.

People Near Me (PNM) is a mesh technology integrated into Windows Vista that allows groups of nearby devices and people to discover, connect, invite, and collaborate with each other. When running, this process creates a mesh by connecting to instances of p2phost.exe on other machines. The PNM API is available as part of the Windows API, and for the most part, focuses on configuring the behavior of p2phost.exe which includes functions, structures, events, and error codes that provide the ability to register an application with PNM, invite others to join a collaboration session, start a registered application, create a persistent contact, and invite a contact that is no longer local. PNM is a completely opt-in mesh technology and is turned off by default.

Windows Communication Foundation offers a universal programming model for many different flavors of distributed applications. PeerChannel is the P2P capabilities of Windows Communication Foundation. It hides virtually all of the complexity traditionally associated with developing a P2P application.

So, what application is using Microsoft P2P solution now? Only one, PictureViewer, the sample application used in the guide that can be downloaded here.

MSDN has released a guide on how to harness the power of P2P in Windows Vista for developers. Microsoft P2P solution intends to reduce the barriers that are common to traditional P2P applications.

Traditionally, challenges to P2P application development have included the need to develop proprietary protocols for message exchange, having to locate and connect with instances of an application that are hidden behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) or a firewall, and the need to support the inevitable infrastructure required to locate applications in a wide-area network (WAN). These challenges, while surmountable, have represented a substantial barrier, and as a result, many of us never consider the amazing collaborative functionality P2P applications provide.

These barriers will be dramatically reduced with Windows Vista™ and the accompanying .NET Framework 3.0 release. The combination of Windows Vista enhancements to Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP), People Near Me (PNM), and the introduction of PeerChannel in Windows® Communication Foundation have made P2P applications much more approachable.

PNRP has been around since Windows XP Service Pack 1 in the form of Advanced Networking Pack. However, while the feature is disabled by default in Windows XP, it’s enabled by default in the Windows Vista. You can check out this page on how to enable it on your Windows XP machine.

People Near Me (PNM) is a mesh technology integrated into Windows Vista that allows groups of nearby devices and people to discover, connect, invite, and collaborate with each other. When running, this process creates a mesh by connecting to instances of p2phost.exe on other machines. The PNM API is available as part of the Windows API, and for the most part, focuses on configuring the behavior of p2phost.exe which includes functions, structures, events, and error codes that provide the ability to register an application with PNM, invite others to join a collaboration session, start a registered application, create a persistent contact, and invite a contact that is no longer local. PNM is a completely opt-in mesh technology and is turned off by default.

Windows Communication Foundation offers a universal programming model for many different flavors of distributed applications. PeerChannel is the P2P capabilities of Windows Communication Foundation. It hides virtually all of the complexity traditionally associated with developing a P2P application.

So, what application is using Microsoft P2P solution now? Only one, PictureViewer, the sample application used in the guide that can be downloaded here.