Google Chromecast is a small streaming device that plugs into a HDMI port on any TV and allows any smartphone, tablet o PC to project “cast” information to the TV. A recent previous deployment guide helped you understand how to use this in a typical multi-vlan campus environment via the use of vlan select and AAA override.
The Google Q4 CY14 earnings report stated that Chromecast was the #1 best selling streaming device with over 1 billion units sold. With a $35 price-point and ability to operate with existing TVs so long as an HDMI interface is available, this solution fairly popular in classrooms or dorms in the K-12 schools and Higher Education for teachers to stream web content to the TVs in the classroom.
In recent news it was stated that Chromecast now uses mDNS for services discovery (multicast Domain Name System) (multicast Domain Name System) using the _googlecast._tcp.local string. This means that customers currently using the AireOS Bonjour Gateway can automatically also manage Chromecasts including user profiles in their network.
Interested in trying this out? Please deploy this with controllers operating on AireOS 8.0 or higher release. Stay tuned for exact scale numbers in the future release.
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Hi Jeevan, thanks for the article. I’m curious how to handle security on Chromecasts? I find the issue is that there is no password protection so any student in a school could hijack it with their own ‘cast’.