mDNS is a multicast UDP service that is used to provide local network service and host discovery.
mDNS is installed by default on most operating systems or is available as separate package. On Mac OS
it is installed by default and is called Bonjour
. Apple releases an installer for Windows
that can be found on Apple's support page. On Linux
, mDNS is provided by avahi and is usually installed by default.
hostname
: the hostname that the device will respond to. If not set, thehostname
will be read from the interface. Example:my-esp32
will resolve tomy-esp32.local
default_instance
: friendly name for your device, likeJhon's ESP32 Thing
. If not set,hostname
will be used.
Example method to start mDNS for the STA interface and set hostname
and default_instance
:
c
void start_mdns_service()
{
//initialize mDNS service
esp_err_t err = mdns_init();
if (err) {
printf("MDNS Init failed: %d\n", err);
return;
}
//set hostname
mdns_hostname_set("my-esp32");
//set default instance
mdns_instance_name_set("Jhon's ESP32 Thing");
}
mDNS can advertise information about network services that your device offers. Each service is defined by a few properties.
instance_name
: friendly name for your service, likeJhon's ESP32 Web Server
. If not defined,default_instance
will be used.service_type
: (required) service type, prepended with underscore. Some common types can be found here.proto
: (required) protocol that the service runs on, prepended with underscore. Example:_tcp
or_udp
port
: (required) network port that the service runs ontxt
:{var, val}
array of strings, used to define properties for your service
Example method to add a few services and different properties:
void add_mdns_services()
{
//add our services
mdns_service_add(NULL, "_http", "_tcp", 80, NULL, 0);
mdns_service_add(NULL, "_arduino", "_tcp", 3232, NULL, 0);
mdns_service_add(NULL, "_myservice", "_udp", 1234, NULL, 0);
//NOTE: services must be added before their properties can be set
//use custom instance for the web server
mdns_service_instance_name_set("_http", "_tcp", "Jhon's ESP32 Web Server");
mdns_txt_item_t serviceTxtData[3] = {
{"board","esp32"},
{"u","user"},
{"p","password"}
};
//set txt data for service (will free and replace current data)
mdns_service_txt_set("_http", "_tcp", serviceTxtData, 3);
//change service port
mdns_service_port_set("_myservice", "_udp", 4321);
}
mDNS provides methods for browsing for services and resolving host's IP/IPv6 addresses.
Results for services are returned as a linked list of mdns_result_t
objects.
Example method to resolve host IPs:
void resolve_mdns_host(const char * host_name)
{
printf("Query A: %s.local", host_name);
struct ip4_addr addr;
addr.addr = 0;
esp_err_t err = mdns_query_a(host_name, 2000, &addr);
if(err){
if(err == ESP_ERR_NOT_FOUND){
printf("Host was not found!");
return;
}
printf("Query Failed");
return;
}
printf(IPSTR, IP2STR(&addr));
}
Example method to resolve local services:
static const char * if_str[] = {"STA", "AP", "ETH", "MAX"};
static const char * ip_protocol_str[] = {"V4", "V6", "MAX"};
void mdns_print_results(mdns_result_t * results){
mdns_result_t * r = results;
mdns_ip_addr_t * a = NULL;
int i = 1, t;
while(r){
printf("%d: Interface: %s, Type: %s\n", i++, if_str[r->tcpip_if], ip_protocol_str[r->ip_protocol]);
if(r->instance_name){
printf(" PTR : %s\n", r->instance_name);
}
if(r->hostname){
printf(" SRV : %s.local:%u\n", r->hostname, r->port);
}
if(r->txt_count){
printf(" TXT : [%u] ", r->txt_count);
for(t=0; t<r->txt_count; t++){
printf("%s=%s; ", r->txt[t].key, r->txt[t].value);
}
printf("\n");
}
a = r->addr;
while(a){
if(a->addr.type == MDNS_IP_PROTOCOL_V6){
printf(" AAAA: " IPV6STR "\n", IPV62STR(a->addr.u_addr.ip6));
} else {
printf(" A : " IPSTR "\n", IP2STR(&(a->addr.u_addr.ip4)));
}
a = a->next;
}
r = r->next;
}
}
void find_mdns_service(const char * service_name, const char * proto)
{
ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Query PTR: %s.%s.local", service_name, proto);
mdns_result_t * results = NULL;
esp_err_t err = mdns_query_ptr(service_name, proto, 3000, 20, &results);
if(err){
ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Query Failed");
return;
}
if(!results){
ESP_LOGW(TAG, "No results found!");
return;
}
mdns_print_results(results);
mdns_query_results_free(results);
}
Example of using the methods above:
void my_app_some_method(){
//search for esp32-mdns.local
resolve_mdns_host("esp32-mdns");
//search for HTTP servers
find_mdns_service("_http", "_tcp");
//or file servers
find_mdns_service("_smb", "_tcp"); //windows sharing
find_mdns_service("_afpovertcp", "_tcp"); //apple sharing
find_mdns_service("_nfs", "_tcp"); //NFS server
find_mdns_service("_ftp", "_tcp"); //FTP server
//or networked printer
find_mdns_service("_printer", "_tcp");
find_mdns_service("_ipp", "_tcp");
}
mDNS server/scanner example: protocols/mdns
.