University

Multicasting

Alcatel-Lucent University Antwerp

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Alcatel-Lucent University Antwerp

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Entry level requirements:

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Table of contents

Unicast versus Multicast

Multicast addressing. .

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University
Unicast versus Multicast

Alcatel-Lucent University Antwerp

3FL00250_C Ed 03

2008 Alcatel-Lucent., All rights reserved

Routing types

Broadcast

Unicast

Anycast

Multicast

> In early IP networks, a packet could be sent to either a single device (unicast) or to all devices
(broadcast). A single transmission destined for a group of devices was not possible. However,
during the past few years, a new set of applications has emerged. These applications use
multicast transmissions to enable efficient communication between groups of devices. Data is
transmitted to a single multicast IP address and received by any device that needs to obtain the
transmission.

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Unicast
Principle
Server application sends 1 copy of data for every client

Routing
Entries for every destination in routing table

Server-Application

> When a packet is sent between two hosts, and when there is one sending process and one
receiving process only, this is unicast. For every client an individual packet stream is setup
(from the server). Very often client applications ask for identical data from the server
> Unicast routing protocols build routing tables by exchanging information about destination
networks

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Streaming content with unicast

One copy of the stream is sent for each subscriber

Massive bandwidth use

BTV

www
= News

> The problem with unicast arises when you want to send a stream of data to many users. In that
case you need to send this stream as many times as there are users, so this requires a
massive amount of bandwidth.

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2008 Alcatel-Lucent., All rights reserved

Broadcast
Principle
Server application sends 1 copy to all hosts
Even if only few users are interested

Routing
Routers typically block broadcast packets
Broadcast to users on the LAN
same subnet
Server-Application

> When a packet is sent between one sourcing host, and many destination hosts, this is
broadcast. e.g. when sending a packet to destination 255.255.255.255 (limited broadcast), the
packet is received by all users connected to the same LAN.
> In case of broadcast all users will receive the packet even though there may be just a few users
connected to the LAN who are interested in the broadcast. Another issue with broadcast is that
you cant reach users connected a few routers away because routers typically block broadcast
packets.

3FL00250_C Ed 03

2008 Alcatel-Lucent., All rights reserved

Multicast
Principle
Server application sends 1 copy of data to a group of users
Network nodes replicate at last possible hop

Routing
Reverse path forwarding
Server-Application

client
Multicast tree
leaf

> IP multicast is a bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces traffic by simultaneously

delivering a single stream of information to potentially thousands of corporate recipients and
homes. Applications that take advantage of multicast include video conferencing, corporate
communications, distance learning, and distribution of software, stock quotes, and news.
> IP multicast delivers application source traffic to multiple receivers without burdening the
source or the receivers while using a minimum of network bandwidth. Multicast packets are
replicated in the network at the point where paths diverge by the routers enabled with Protocol
Independent Multicast (PIM) and other supporting multicast protocols, resulting in the most
efficient delivery of data to multiple receivers.
> Most multicast routing protocols use a reverse path forwarding mechanism: incoming packets
from a multicast-source are flooded out of interfaces towards routers which are situated
downstream. This implies: duplication of multicast packets by routers.

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Streaming content with multicast in core

Avoids multiple copies in core
But still contains multiple copies in access.

BTV

www
= News

3FL00250_C Ed 03

2008 Alcatel-Lucent., All rights reserved

Streaming content with multicast in core & access

Multicast at all stages eliminates replicated
broadcast traffic in the network

BTV

www
= News

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Requirements to multicast data

Determining multicast scope
A mechanism for determining the scope of a transmission.
IP Multicast protocol

Determining multicast participants

A mechanism to determine if a multicast datagram needs to be
forwarded on a specific network.
Internet Group Membership Protocol - IGMP

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> Full support for IP multicasting, allows a host to create, join and leave host groups, as well as
send IP datagrams to host groups. It requires implementation of the Internet Group
Management Protocol (IGMP) and extension of the IP and local network service interfaces
within the host.

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IP multicasting and IGMP

sender

Multicast Routing Protocols

- PIM
- DVMRP

JOIN Multicast
224.10.10.10

IGMP

Receivers listening to multicast group

224.10.10.10
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> PIM = Protocol Independent Multicast routing protocol

> DVMRP = Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol
> IGMP only specifies the communication occurring between receiving hosts and their local
multicast router. Routing of packets between multicast routers is managed by a separate
routing protocol. The slide shows that multicast routing protocols and IGMP operate in different
sections of the multicast delivery tree.

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University
Multicast addressing

Alcatel-Lucent University Antwerp

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IP multicasting
Host group Multicast group
an arbitrary group of receivers that want to receive a particular
data stream
Single IP destination address
no physical nor geographical boundaries the host can be located
anywhere on the internet
Host can send packets to the host group without being a member
Host does not know the members of the host group

The membership of a host group is dynamic

No restriction on location or number
Use of Private access key possible

Host group may be permanent or transient.

Multicast

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> Multicast is based on the concept of a group. A multicast group is an arbitrary group of
receivers that expresses an interest in receiving a particular data stream. This group has
neither physical nor geographical boundariesthe hosts can be located anywhere on the
Internet or any private inter-network.
> Hosts that are interested in receiving data flowing to a particular group must join the group
using IGMP. Hosts must be members of the group to receive the data stream.
> The membership of a host group is dynamic; that is, hosts may join and leave groups at any
time. There is no restriction on the location or number of members in a host group, but
membership in a group may be restricted to only those hosts possessing a private access key.
A host may be a member of more than one group at a time. A host need not be a member of a
group to send datagrams to it.
> A host group may be permanent or transient.
A permanent group has a well-known, administratively assigned IP address. It is the address,
not the membership of the group, that is permanent; at any time a permanent group may have
any number of members, even zero.
A transient group, on the other hand, is assigned an address dynamically when the group is
created, at the request of a host. A transient group ceases to exist, and its address becomes
eligible for reassignment, when its membership drops to zero.

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IP multicast protocol
IP Multicast uses Class D addresses
IP-addresses from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255

28
CLASS D

1110

MULTICAST

224

239

Routers must be multicast enabled to support multicasting

IP multicast addresses can only be used as destination
addresses
Sources send multicast traffic towards destination class D IPaddress

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> The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) controls the assignment of IP multicast
addresses. IANA has assigned the IPv4 Class D address space to be used for IP multicast.
Therefore multicast devices use Class D IP addresses (as destination addresses only!) to
communicate. These addresses are contained in the range encompassing 224.0.0.0 through
239.255.255.255.
> Permanent addresses (assigned by IANA)
224.0.0.0 Base Address (Reserved)
224.0.0.1 All Systems on this Subnet
224.0.0.2 All Routers on this Subnet
224.0.0.3 Unassigned
224.0.0.4 DVMRP Routers
224.0.0.5 OSPF All Routers
224.0.0.6 OSPF Designated Routers
224.0.0.9 RIP2 Routers
> Transient addresses
Dynamically assigned to a multicast group
Cease to exist when membership to the group drops to zero
> A small number of MC IP addresses is permanently reserved (e.g. to address all routers
supporting a certain routing protocol), but all the other addresses are available.
> The Internet is divided into several multicast domains. Within each domain one can
theoretically use the full range of transient class D IP addresses. There is a DHCP-like
functionality within such a domain that allocates IP addresses (and registers which class D IP
addresses are in use).
> It is possible to have inter-domain multicasts, but then you need to have a mapping between
multicast addresses within the respective multicast domains.

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Layer 2 multicast addresses

Ethernet - MAC address

0

xxxxxxx1

xxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx

multicast bit

multicast bit:
1 multicast (or even broadcast)
the frame is destined to all hosts or a subset of hosts on the network

0 unicast
the frame is destined to one single host on the network

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L3 to L2 address mapping

32 different multicast group IDs all map to the same Ethernet

address
32 bits

1110
IP multicast address (239.255.10.1)

28 bit multicast address

1110 1111-11111111-00001010-00000001

5 bits lost
Multicast MAC address
(01-00-5E-7F-0A-01)

00000001-00000000-01011110-01111111-00001010-00000001

25 bits prefix

23 bits
48 bits

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> In contrast to standard IP unicast traffic forwarding, the mapping between the IP multicast
destination address and the data-link address is not done with ARP. Instead, a static mapping
has been defined.
> In an Ethernet network, multicasting is supported if the high-order octet of the data-link address
is 0x'01'.
> The IANA has reserved the range 0x01005E000000' through 0x'01005E7FFFFF' for multicast
addresses. This range provides 23 usable bits. The 32-bit multicast IP address is mapped to
an Ethernet address by placing the low-order 23 bits of the Class D address into the low-order
23 bits
> Since the high-order five bits of the IP multicast group are ignored, 32 different multicast groups
are mapped to the same Ethernet address. Because of this non-unique mapping, filtering by
the device driver is required.

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