Custom IP/UDP/RTP header in windows xp (and above) + general network questions

Lots of questions, I am sorry!

I am doing a voice-chat (VoIP) application and I was thinking of doing a custom implementation of the IP&UDP headers, along with small, extra information mainly seq number. Sounds alot like RTP yes, but I'm mainly just interested in the seq number or timestamp, and trying to implement my own whole RTP sounds like a nightmare with all the complexity involved and data im not likely to use.

Target OS for the application is windows xp and above. I have read http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms740548%28v=vs.85%29.aspx on the topic of Raw sockets in windows, and now I just want some confirmation. I also have some general networking questions.

Here's the following questions;

1) According to MSDN, you cannot send custom IP packets with a source that is not on the network list. I understand it from a security PoV, but is there any way around this? My idea was to have for example two clients open UDP communication to a non-NAT protected server, and then have the clients spoof the source-header to make it look like packets come from the server instead of each other, thereby eliminating the need for a server as a relay of data to get through NAT, which开发者_C百科 would improve latency. I have heard of winpcap but I don't want each client to have to install any 3rd party apps. Considering the number of DoS attacks surely there must be some way around this, like spoofing the network table the OS uses to check if source-header is legit? Will this trigger anti-virus systems? I feel it would be really fun to actually toy with IP headers and above instead of just using predefined headers.

2) I've been having issues with free RTP libraries like JRTPLIB(which probably is very good anyway it just dosn't want to work for me) to make them work, more than I could almost tolerate, and am thinking of just writing my own interpretation ontop of UDP. Does application-level protcols like RTP simply build their header directly inside the UDP payload with the actual data afterwards? I suspect this considering the encapsulation process but just want to make sure. If so, one does not need to create a RAW socket to implement application-level protocol, just an ordinary UDP socket and then your own payload interpretation above?

3) RTP does not give any performance boost compared to UDP since it adds more headers, all it does is making sure packets arrive in a sort-of correct manner based on timestamps and sequence numbers, right? Is it -really- that usefull to use an RTP implementation for your basic VoIP project needs instead of adding basic sequencing yourself? I realise for video conferencing perhaps you reaally don't want frames to play out of order, but in audio conversations, would you really notice it?

4) If my solution in #1 is not applicable and I would have to use a server as a data relay between clients, would multicast be a good solution to reduce server loads? Is multicast supported enough in routing hardware?

5) It is related to question 1). Why do routers/firewalls allow things like UDP hole punching? For example, two clients first conenct to the server, then the server gives a client port / ip on to other clients, so the clients can talk to each other on those ports. Why would firewalls allow data to be received from another IP than the one used in making the connection on that very port? Sounds like a big security hole that should easly be filtered? I understand that source IP spoofing would trick it, but this?

6) To set up a UDP session between two parties (the client which is behind NAT, server whic his non-NAT) does the client simply have to send a packet to the server and then the session is allowed through the firewall? Meaning the client can receive too from the server. Based on article at wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDP_hole_punching

7) Is SIP dependant on RTP? For some reason I got this impression but I cant find data to back it up. I may plan to add softphone functionality to my VoIP client in the future and want to make sure I have a good foundation (RTP if I really must, otherwise my own UDP interpretation)

Thanks in advance!

1, Raw sockets seems unnecessary for this application

2, Yes

3, RTP runs on top of UDP, of course it adds overhead. In many ways RTP (ignoring RTCP) is pretty much the bare minimum already and if you implemented a half-way decent alternative it would save you a few bytes at best and you wouldn't be able to use any of the many RTP test tools.

7, SIP is completely independent of RTP. SIP is used to Initiate Sessions. SDP is the protocol commonly transported by SIP, and it is SDP that negotiates and controls RTP video/voice voice.