Cisco 3750G Configuration Guide - Page 979

Chapter 40 Configuring IP Multicast Routing Understanding Cisco's Implementation of IP Multicast Routing PIM SM When a new receiver on a previously pruned branch of the tree joins a multicast group, the PIM DM device detects the new receiver and immediately sends a graft message up the distribution tree toward the source. When the upstream PIM DM device receives the graft message, it immediately puts the interface on which the graft was received into the forwarding state so that the multicast traffic begins flowing to the receiver. PIM SM uses shared trees and shortest-path-trees (SPTs) to distribute multicast traffic to multicast receivers in the network. In PIM SM, a router or multilayer switch assumes that other routers or switches do not forward multicast packets for a group, unless there is an explicit request for the traffic (join message). When a host joins a multicast group using IGMP, its directly connected PIM SM device sends PIM join messages toward the root, also known as the RP. This join message travels router-by-router toward the root, constructing a branch of the shared tree as it goes. The RP keeps track of multicast receivers. It also registers sources through register messages received from the source's first-hop router (designated router [DR]) to complete the shared tree path from the source to the receiver. When using a shared tree, sources must send their traffic to the RP so that the traffic reaches all receivers. Prune messages are sent up the distribution tree to prune multicast group traffic. This action permits branches of the shared tree or SPT that were created with explicit join messages to be torn down when they are no longer needed. Auto-RP This proprietary feature eliminates the need to manually configure the RP information in every router and multilayer switch in the network. For Auto-RP to work, you configure a Cisco router or multilayer switch as the mapping agent. It uses IP multicast to learn which routers or switches in the network are possible candidate RPs to receive candidate RP announcements. Candidate RPs periodically send multicast RP-announce messages to a particular group or group range to announce their availability. Mapping agents listen to these candidate RP announcements and use the information to create entries in their Group-to-RP mapping caches. Only one mapping cache entry is created for any Group-to-RP range received, even if multiple candidate RPs are sending RP announcements for the same range. As the RP-announce messages arrive, the mapping agent selects the router or switch with the highest IP address as the active RP and stores this RP address in the Group-to-RP mapping cache. Mapping agents periodically multicast the contents of their Group-to-RP mapping cache. Thus, all routers and switches automatically discover which RP to use for the groups they support. If a router or switch fails to receive RP-discovery messages and the Group-to-RP mapping information expires, it switches to a statically configured RP that was defined with the ip pim rp-address global configuration command. If no statically configured RP exists, the router or switch changes the group to dense-mode operation. Multiple RPs serve different group ranges or serve as hot backups of each other. Bootstrap Router PIMv2 BSR is another method to distribute group-to-RP mapping information to all PIM routers and multilayer switches in the network. It eliminates the need to manually configure RP information in every router and switch in the network. However, instead of using IP multicast to distribute group-to-RP mapping information, BSR uses hop-by-hop flooding of special BSR messages to distribute the mapping information. OL-8550-02 Catalyst 3750 Switch Software Configuration Guide 40-5