Fasttrack protocol info

**Power Penguin** · August 23rd, 2002, 04:08 PM

I am researching an article that will post to Zeropiad eventually.
The article is in response to the numerous "Get movies for free" type articles that appear in computer magazines in the UK. (And surely elsewhere).

Rather than a step by step guide to using Kazaa, and a quote from a pissed off Eminem, that feature in these articles, I hope to demonstrate how the networks work and the difference between them.

Further to this aim, I require Fastrack info on a similar technical level to this article :

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/article.../08022002a.php

Also helpful would be information on WinMx.

I want this article to be somewhere technically between http://www.slyck.com/ and a Visual Basic book.

Perhaps with this effort, a gap will be filled.

**Power Penguin** · August 23rd, 2002, 08:06 PM

24th - I'm playing around making a Gnutella client, that will give me some insight into the network. I would still like info on the other nets though.

**wiggum** · August 24th, 2002, 06:22 AM

Almost everything you could want to know about how FastTrack works is in this internal RIAA memo here:
http://www.dotcomscoop.com/riaamemo.html

Ignore the dated information. See this article as more an overview of the network.

**Power Penguin** · August 25th, 2002, 08:20 PM

As of today, that link you posted doesn't work.

(Writing a client is harder than I thought, but I certainly know a lot more about Gnutella).

I'm finished my Gnutella overview. Here's the first draft :

Gnutella

A gnutella client (e.g. Bearshare) connects to the Gnutella network through a computer that stays on 24 hours a day whose purpose is to provide the initial connection for clients and to give these clients a list of hosts. These machines are known as ‘hostcaches’. This is a permanent part of the network, and where your Gnutella program goes when it starts running.

Once connected to a machine (and hence the network) via an IP address supplied by a hostcache, you client searches through each connected computer in the network for a file, sending a “query” packet to each one. When a computer receives the query, it passes it on. A query has a “Time To Live” (A number that determines how times your query is passed on), and so it doesn’t get passed on forever.

When a client receives a query and it has the file, the IP address and port is returned to your computer via a “query hit”. Your client then connects to one of these computers to download the file. This part is outside of network, and uses HTTP – the net has done it’s job.

As well as the important queries, clients actively ping (a ping is a message requesting a pong in return – which contains connection details (IP and port). Pongs are similar to a query hits, except they give details about the file too.

A lot of traffic is generated with pings and queries, taking up valuable bandwidth.
So, in response, UltraPeers were introduced. Ultrapeers, handle all Pings, and Queries for any connected computers because connected computers post their list of files to it. Obviously, an Ultrapeer is quicker than a Leaf (a client connected to an UltraPeer).

**Power Penguin** · August 25th, 2002, 08:58 PM

TThanks ffor tthe sspelling ttip on Fastrack

**Power Penguin** · August 25th, 2002, 09:07 PM

Oh no. I should have put the quotes in from a pissed off Eminem :

"If I catch the fucker that posted my album on the internet, motherfucker, beat the shit out of him. Motherfucker, motherfucker"

Or something like that. Better?

**wiggum** · August 26th, 2002, 12:43 PM

Originally posted by TopManJafar
Fastrack has 1 FUKING T!

FastTrack has 2 T's . The home page of the creators is www.fastTrack.nu

**whiff** · August 31st, 2002, 08:12 PM

appreciate the link to the dotcomscoop article. fascinating stuff.

**HolyLiaison** · September 13th, 2002, 01:50 AM

I will be posting tons of information on fasttrack, winmx, and many others once my project is done. Including dev info, source code, and so on.

**wiggum** · September 13th, 2002, 02:49 AM

source code and Dev Info

How on earth would anyone get their hands on this for FastTrack?

**Sephiroth** · September 13th, 2002, 06:57 AM

Reverse Engineering the protocols and since HolyLiaison is creating a program that works on all the networks then its most likely the source from that. Either way it could be helpful to other networks to see what makes fasttrack so great and winmx and etc..

Note to the other mods DO NOT mod it..

**dr. damn** · September 13th, 2002, 04:55 PM

I explored some of the connection differences between iMesh and Kazaa Lite yesterday, and discovered something interesting. While iMesh uses TCP and UDP, KaZaA connects via UDP and ICMP. I assume Grokster works the same way as KaZaA.

Does anyone know why these two programs connect completely differently to the same network?