Specifications

April 16, 2009 Page 1 of 32
Configuring Multicast
Thisdocumentprovidesinformationaboutconfiguringandmonitoringmulticas tonEnterasys
Matrix
®
N‐Series,EnterasysSecureStack
™
,D‐Series,G‐Series,andI‐Seriesdevices.
What Is Multicast?
Multicastisa“onesourcetomanydestinations”methodofsimultaneouslysendinginformation
overanetworkusingthemostefficientdeliverystrategyovereachlink.Onlytheendstationsthat
explicitlyindicateaneedtoreceiveagivenmulticaststreamwillreceiveit.
Applicationsthattakeadvantageofmulticastincludevideo
conferencing,streamingvideo,
corporatecommunications,distancelearning,anddistributionofsoftware,stockquotes,and
news.
Multicasttechnologyincludesthefollowingprotocols:
• InternetGroupManagementProtocol(IGMP)
•DistanceVectorMulticastRouting Protocol(DVMRP)
•ProtocolIndependentMulticast(PIM)
Why Would I Use Multicast in My Network?
Unlikeunicastandbroadcast,multicastusesnetworkinfrastructureefficientlybecauseonlyone
copyofthesourcetrafficissentthroughoutthenetwork,goingonlytointerestedreceivers,
minimizingtheburdenplacedonthesender,network,andreceiver.Theroutersinthenetwork
takecareofreplicatingthepacket,wherenecessary,to
reachmultiplereceivers.Ifarouterdecides
thattherearenointerestedusersdownstreamfromitself,itprunesthestreambacktothenext
router.Thus,unwantedstreamsarenotsenttotheprunedrouters,savingbandwidthand
preventingunwa ntedpacketsfrombeingsent.
Note: For information on Enterasys Matrix X-Series support, refer to the Enterasys Matrix X Secure
Core Router Configuration Guide.
For information about... Refer to page...
What Is Multicast? 1
Why Would I Use Multicast in My Network? 1
How Do I Implement Multicast? 2
Understanding Multicast 2
Configuring Multicast 15