MPROXY: Multicast Network Dispatcher and Proxy

Streams files and raw socket data over the network. Includes client, proxy, reverse-proxy, and server applications, as well as a library API. Provides a complete network stack using UDP Multicast as an intermediate route, enabling scalable stream multiplexing and aggregate feeds.

• Stream arbitrary data over the network
• Complete networking stack
  • Send, proxy, reverse-proxy, and receive to/from multiple endpoints simultaneously
  • Stream multiplexing and aggregation via multicast IP routing
  • Hostname resolution
• Fast
  • 500+ Mbps read/transfer/write speed (UDP)
• Minimal
  • Compiled binaries ~350KB
  • Tiny memory footprint
  • Stateless: no shared resources between threads. Communication between threads are routed via UDP multicast

Compatible with

• UDP
• TCP (via proxy or reverse_proxy)
• TLS (partial support for client TLS via proxy. Requires feature tls enabled)
• IPv4
• IPv6
• Unix/Linux/Mac
• Windows

Install Binary

cargo install mproxy-client
cargo install mproxy-proxy
cargo install mproxy-reverseproxy
cargo install mproxy-server

Using MPROXY as a library

Include in Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
mproxy-client = "0.1.0"
mproxy-proxy = "0.1.0"
mproxy-reverseproxy = "0.1.0"
mproxy-server = "0.1.0"

Command Line Interface

Client

MPROXY: UDP Client

Stream local data to logging servers via UDP

USAGE:
  mproxy-client [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] ...

OPTIONS:
  --path        [FILE_DESCRIPTOR]   Filepath, descriptor, or handle. Use "-" for stdin
  --server-addr [HOSTNAME:PORT]     Downstream UDP server address. May be repeated 

FLAGS:
  -h, --help    Prints help information
  -t, --tee     Copy input to stdout

EXAMPLE:
  mproxy-client --path /dev/random --server-addr '127.0.0.1:9920' --server-addr '[::1]:9921'
  mproxy-client --path - --server-addr '224.0.0.1:9922' --server-addr '[ff02::1]:9923' --tee >> logfile.log

Proxy

MPROXY: Proxy

Forward TCP, UDP, or Multicast endpoints to a downstream UDP socket address. 

USAGE:
  mproxy-proxy  [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

OPTIONS:
  --udp-listen-addr     [HOSTNAME:PORT]     UDP listening socket address. May be repeated
  --udp-downstream-addr [HOSTNAME:PORT]     UDP downstream socket address. May be repeated
  --tcp-connect-addr    [HOSTNAME:PORT]     Connect to TCP host, forwarding stream. May be repeated 

FLAGS:
  -h, --help    Prints help information
  -t, --tee     Copy input to stdout

EXAMPLE:
  mproxy-proxy --udp-listen-addr '0.0.0.0:9920' \
    --udp-downstream-addr '[::1]:9921' \
    --udp-downstream-addr 'localhost:9922' \
    --tcp-connect-addr 'localhost:9925' \
    --tee

Reverse-Proxy

MPROXY: Reverse-proxy

Forward upstream TCP and/or UDP endpoints to downstream listeners.
Messages are routed via UDP multicast to downstream sender threads. 
Spawns one thread per listener.

USAGE:
  mproxy-reverseproxy  [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

OPTIONS:
  --udp-listen-addr [HOSTNAME:PORT]     Spawn a UDP socket listener, and forward to --multicast-addr
  --tcp_listen_addr [HOSTNAME:PORT]     Reverse-proxy accepting TCP connections and forwarding to --multicast-addr
  --multicast-addr  [MULTICAST_IP:PORT] Defaults to '[ff02::1]:9918'
  --tcp-output-addr [HOSTNAME:PORT]     Forward packets from --multicast-addr to TCP downstream
  --udp_output_addr [HOSTNAME:PORT]     Forward packets from --multicast-addr to UDP downstream

FLAGS:
  -h, --help    Prints help information
  -t, --tee     Print UDP input to stdout

EXAMPLE:
  reverse_proxy --udp-listen-addr '0.0.0.0:9920' --tcp-output-addr '[::1]:9921' --multicast-addr '224.0.0.1:9922'

Server

MPROXY: UDP Server

Listen for incoming UDP messages and log to file.

USAGE:
  mproxy-server [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] ...

OPTIONS: 
  --path        [FILE_DESCRIPTOR]   Filepath, descriptor, or handle.
  --listen-addr [SOCKET_ADDR]       Upstream UDP listening address. May be repeated 

FLAGS:
  -h, --help    Prints help information
  -t, --tee     Copy input to stdout

EXAMPLE:
  mproxy-server --path logfile.log --listen-addr '127.0.0.1:9920' --listen-addr '[::1]:9921'

Motivation

• Complete yet barebones distributed networks framework for e.g. telemetry or sensor data
• Zero-configuration, simple operation and deployment
• Leverage benefits of UDP protocol:
  • Ability to merge data streams from many sources
  • Stream multiplexing and redistribution
  • UDP multicasting enables stateless, scaleable reverse-proxy
• Prioritizing cross-compatability, simplicity, security, and performance

Alternatives

• cURL
• Netcat Point-to-point communications with complete feature set
• Nginx Feature-rich proxy server with static file serving, file caching, and load balancing
• Websocat Command-line client for websockets