Cisco WS-C4003 Software Guide - Page 232

Understanding How Multicasting Works Chapter 15 Configuring Multicast Services CGMP and IGMP software components run on both the Cisco router and the switch. A CGMP/IGMP-capable IP multicast router sees all IGMP packets and can inform the switch when specific hosts join or leave IP multicast groups. When the CGMP/IGMP-capable router receives an IGMP control packet, it creates a CGMP or IGMP packet that contains the request type (either join or leave), the multicast group address, and the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the host. The router sends the packet to a well-known address to which all switches listen. When a switch receives the packet, the supervisor engine module interprets the packet and modifies the forwarding table automatically. You can statically configure multicast groups using the set cam static command. Multicast groups learned through CGMP or IGMP snooping are dynamic. If you specify group membership for a multicast group address, your static setting supersedes any automatic manipulation by CGMP or IGMP. Multicast group membership lists can consist of both user-defined and CGMP/IGMP-learned settings. Note If a spanning tree virtual LAN (VLAN) topology changes, the CGMP/IGMP-learned multicast groups on the VLAN are purged and the CGMP/IGMP-capable router generates new multicast group information. If a CGMP/IGMP-learned port link is disabled for any reason, that port is removed from any multicast group memberships. We recommend that you enable the spanning tree PortFast feature on ports to which hosts are directly connected if you are using CGMP. For information on configuring spanning tree PortFast, see Chapter 8, "Configuring Spanning Tree PortFast, UplinkFast, and BackboneFast, and Loop Guard." Joining a Multicast Group When a host wants to join an IP multicast group, it sends an IGMP join message specifying its MAC address and the IP multicast group it wants to join. The CGMP/IGMP-capable router then builds a CGMP/IGMP join message and multicasts the join message to the well-known address to which the switches listen. Upon receipt of the join message, each switch searches its Enhanced Address Recognition Logic (EARL) table to determine if it contains the MAC address of the host asking to join the multicast group. If a switch finds the MAC address of the host in its EARL table associating the MAC address with a nontrunking port, the switch creates a multicast forwarding entry in the EARL forwarding table. The host associated with that port receives multicast traffic for that multicast group. In this way, the EARL automatically learns the MAC addresses and port numbers of the IP multicast hosts. Leaving a Multicast Group The CGMP/IGMP-capable router sends periodic multicast group queries. If a host wants to remain in a multicast group, it responds to the query from the router. In this case, the router does nothing. If a host does not want to remain in the multicast group, it does not respond to the router query. After a number of queries, if the router receives no reports from any host in a multicast group, the router sends a CGMP/IGMP command to the switch and requests that the swich remove the multicast group from its forwarding tables. 15-2 Software Configuration Guide-Catalyst 4000 Family, Catalyst 2948G, Catalyst 2980G, Releases 6.3 and 6.4 78-12647-02