Multicast routing allows a host to send packets to a subset of all hosts as a group transmission rather than to a single host, as in unicast transmission, or to all hosts, as in broadcast transmission. The subset of hosts is known as group members and are identified by a single multicast group address that falls under the IP Class D address range from 224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255.

The multicast environment consists of senders and receivers. Any host, regardless of whether it is a member of a group, can send to a group. However, only the members of a group receive the message.

• PIM SM—Protocol Independent Multicast in sparse mode (PIM-SM) is used between routers to track which multicast packets to forward to each other and to their directly connected LANs.

• PIM SSM— Protocol Independent Multicast in Source-Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM) has the ability to report interest in receiving packets from specific source addresses (or from all but the specific source addresses), to an IP multicast address.

• Auto RP— Automates the distribution of RP information in a multicast network

• Static RP— Ability to statically configure an RP for a multicast group range.

• PIM BSR—PIM boots trap router (BSR) provides a fault-tolerant, automated RP discovery and distribution mechanism that simplifies the Auto-RP process.

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) is a multicast routing protocol used to create multicast distribution trees, which are used to forward multicast data packets.

Proper operation of multicast depends on knowing the unicast paths towards a source or an RP. PIM relies on unicast routing protocols to derive this reverse-path forwarding (RPF) information. As the name PIM implies, it functions independently of the unicast protocols being used. PIM relies on the Routing Information Base (RIB) for RPF information. Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) is designed to send and receive multicast routing updates.

The Cisco IOS XR implementation of PIM is based on RFC 4601 Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification. For more information, see RFC 4601 and the Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM): Motivation and Architecture Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet draft.

NCS 5000 series router supports Protocol Independent Multicast in sparse mode (PIM-SM) and Protocol Independent Multicast in Source-Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM), permitting these modes to operate on your router at the same time.

Sparse-mode PIM uses the RPF lookup function to determine where it needs to send joins and prunes. (S,G) joins (which are source-tree states) are sent toward the source. (*,G) joins (which are shared-tree states) are sent toward the RP.

Typically, PIM in sparse mode (PIM-SM) operation is used in a multicast network when relatively few routers are involved in each multicast. Routers do not forward multicast packets for a group, unless there is an explicit request for traffic. Requests are accomplished using PIM join messages, which are sent hop by hop toward the root node of the tree. The root node of a tree in PIM-SM is the rendezvous point (RP) in the case of a shared tree or the first-hop router that is directly connected to the multicast source in the case of a shortest path tree (SPT). The RP keeps track of multicast groups, and the sources that send multicast packets are registered with the RP by the first-hop router of the source.

As a PIM join travels up the tree, routers along the path set up the multicast forwarding state so that the requested multicast traffic is forwarded back down the tree. When multicast traffic is no longer needed, a router sends a PIM prune message up the tree toward the root node to prune (or remove) the unnecessary traffic. As this PIM prune travels hop by hop up the tree, each router updates its forwarding state appropriately. Ultimately, the forwarding state associated with a multicast group or source is removed. Additionally, if prunes are not explicitly sent, the PIM state will timeout and be removed in the absence of any further join messages.

This image shows IGMP and PIM-SM operating in a multicast environment.

In PIM-SM, the rendezvous point (RP) is used to bridge sources sending data to a particular group with receivers sending joins for that group. In the initial set up of state, interested receivers receive data from senders to the group across a single data distribution tree rooted at the RP. This type of distribution tree is called a shared tree or rendezvous point tree (RPT) as illustrated in Figure 4: Shared Tree and Source Tree (Shortest Path Tree), above. Data from senders is delivered to the RP for distribution to group members joined to the shared tree.

Unless the command is configured, this initial state gives way as soon as traffic is received on the leaf routers (designated router closest to the host receivers). When the leaf router receives traffic from the RP on the RPT, the router initiates a switch to a data distribution tree rooted at the source sending traffic. This type of distribution tree is called a shortest path tree or source tree. By default, the Cisco IOS XR Software switches to a source tree when it receives the first data packet from a source.

Cisco routers use PIM-SM to forward multicast traffic and follow an election process to select a designated router (DR) when there is more than one router on a LAN segment.

The designated router is responsible for sending PIM register and PIM join and prune messages toward the RP to inform it about host group membership.

If there are multiple PIM-SM routers on a LAN, a designated router must be elected to avoid duplicating multicast traffic for connected hosts. The PIM router with the highest IP address becomes the DR for the LAN unless you choose to force the DR election by use of the dr-priority command. The DR priority option allows you to specify the DR priority of each router on the LAN segment (default priority = 1) so that the router with the highest priority is elected as the DR. If all routers on the LAN segment have the same priority, the highest IP address is again used as the tiebreaker.

Note	DR election process is required only on multi access LANs. The last-hop router directly connected to the host is the DR.

The figure "Designated Router Election on a Multiaccess Segment", below illustrates what happens on a multi access segment. Router A (10.0.0.253) and Router B (10.0.0.251) are connected to a common multi access Ethernet segment with Host A (10.0.0.1) as an active receiver for Group A. As the Explicit Join model is used, only Router A, operating as the DR, sends joins to the RP to construct the shared tree for Group A. If Router B were also permitted to send (*,G) joins to the RP, parallel paths would be created and Host A would receive duplicate multicast traffic. When Host A begins to source multicast traffic to the group, the DR's responsibility is to send register messages to the RP. Again, if both routers were assigned the responsibility, the RP would receive duplicate multicast packets.

If the DR fails, the PIM-SM provides a way to detect the failure of Router A and to elect a failover DR. If the DR (Router A) were to become inoperable, Router B would detect this situation when its neighbor adjacency with Router A timed out. Because Router B has been hearing IGMP membership reports from Host A, it already has IGMP state for Group A on this interface and immediately sends a join to the RP when it becomes the new DR. This step reestablishes traffic flow down a new branch of the shared tree using Router B. Additionally, if Host A were sourcing traffic, Router B would initiate a new register process immediately after receiving the next multicast packet from Host A. This action would trigger the RP to join the SPT to Host A, using a new branch through Router B.

Note	Two PIM routers are neighbors if there is a direct connection between them. To display your PIM neighbors, use the show pim neighbor command in EXEC mode.

• They are not used for unicast routing but are used only by PIM to look up an IPv4 next hop to a PIM source.

• They are not published to the Forwarding Information Base (FIB).

• When multicast-intact is enabled on an IGP, all IPv4 destinations that were learned through link-state advertisements are published with a set equal-cost mcast-intact next-hops to the RIB. This attribute applies even when the native next-hops have no IGP shortcuts.

• In IS-IS, the max-paths limit is applied by counting both the native and mcast-intact next-hops together. (In OSPFv2, the behavior is slightly different.)

Router#configure
Router(config)#router pim
Router(config-pim-default)#address-family ipv4
Router(config-pim-default-ipv4)#dr-priority 2 
Router(config-pim-default-ipv4)#interface TenGigE0/0/0/1 
Router(config-pim-ipv4-if)#dr-priority 4
Router(config-ipv4-acl)#commit

Router#show run router pim
router pim
 address-family ipv4
  dr-priority 2
  spt-threshold infinity
  interface TenGigE0/0/0/1
   dr-priority 4
   hello-interval 45

Router#show pim interface
PIM interfaces in VRF default
Address           Interface           PIM  Nbr   Hello  DR    DR Count Intvl  Prior
100.1.1.1        TenGigE0/0/0/1        on   1     45     4     this system
26.1.1.1         TenGigE0/0/0/26       on   1     30     2     this system

When PIM is configured in sparse mode, you must choose one or more routers to operate as a rendezvous point (RP). A rendezvous point is a single common root placed at a chosen point of a shared distribution tree, as illustrated in Figure 4: Shared Tree and Source Tree (Shortest Path Tree). A rendezvous point can be either configured statically in each box or learned through a dynamic mechanism. PIM DRs forward data from directly connected multicast sources to the rendezvous point for distribution down the shared tree. Data is forwarded to the rendezvous point in one of two ways:

• Encapsulated in register packets and unicast directly to the rendezvous point by the first-hop router operating as the DR.

• Multicast forwarded by the RPF forwarding algorithm, described in the Reverse-Path Forwarding, if the rendezvous point has itself joined the source tree.

The rendezvous point address is used by first-hop routers to send PIM register messages on behalf of a host sending a packet to the group. The rendezvous point address is also used by last-hop routers to send PIM join and prune messages to the rendezvous point to inform it about group membership. You must configure the rendezvous point address on all routers (including the rendezvous point router).

A PIM router can be a rendezvous point for more than one group. Only one rendezvous point address can be used at a time within a PIM domain. The conditions specified by the access list determine for which groups the router is a rendezvous point.

You can either manually configure a PIM router to function as a rendezvous point or allow the rendezvous point to learn group-to-RP mappings automatically by configuring Auto-RP or BSR.

It is possible to statically configure an RP for a multicast group range. The address of the RP must be configured on every router in the domain. Configuring static RPs is relatively easy and can be done with one or two lines of configuration on each router. If the network does not have many different RPs defined and/or they do not change very often, then this could be the simplest method to define RPs. This can also be an attractive option if the network is small.

However this can be a laborious task in a large and complex network. Every router must have the same RP address. This means changing the RP address requires reconfiguring every router. If several RPs are active for different groups, then information regarding which RP is handling which group must be known by all routers. To ensure this information is complete, several configuration commands may be required. If the manually configured RP fails, there is no failover procedure for another router to take over the function performed by the failed RP. This method does not provide any kind of load-balancing. Static RP can be combined with Anycast RP to provide RP load sharing and redundancy.

Static RP can co-exist with dynamic RP mechanisms (ie: Auto-RP). Dynamically learned RP takes precedence over manually configured RPs. If a router receives Auto-RP information for a multicast group that has manually configured RP information, then the Auto-RP information will be used.

Multiple RPs can be used to serve different group ranges or to serve as hot backups for each other. To ensure that Auto-RP functions, configure routers as candidate RPs so that they can announce their interest in operating as an RP for certain group ranges. Additionally, a router must be designated as an RP-mapping agent that receives the RP-announcement messages from the candidate RPs, and arbitrates conflicts. The RP-mapping agent sends the consistent group-to-RP mappings to all remaining routers. Thus, all routers automatically determine which RP to use for the groups they support. All routers automatically learn the RP information making it easier to administer and update RP information. There is no configuration needed on every router separately (except on candidate RPs and mapping agents). Auto-RP permits back-up RPs to be configured enabling an RP failover mechanism.

If you configure PIM in sparse mode and do not configure Auto-RP, you must statically configure an RP as described in the Configuring a Static RP. When router interfaces are configured in sparse mode, Auto-RP can still be used if all routers are configured with a static RP address for the Auto-RP groups.

The PIM bootstrap router (BSR) provides a fault-tolerant, automated RP discovery and distribution mechanism that simplifies the Auto-RP process. This feature is enabled by default allowing routers to dynamically learn the group-to-RP mappings.

PIM uses the BSR to discover and announce RP-set information for each group prefix to all the routers in a PIM domain. This is the same function accomplished by Auto-RP, but the BSR is part of the PIM specification. The BSR mechanism interoperates with Auto-RP on Cisco routers.

To avoid a single point of failure, you can configure several candidate BSRs in a PIM domain. A BSR is elected among the candidate BSRs automatically.

Candidates use bootstrap messages to discover which BSR has the highest priority. The candidate with the highest priority sends an announcement to all PIM routers in the PIM domain that it is the BSR.

Routers that are configured as candidate RPs unicast to the BSR the group range for which they are responsible. The BSR includes this information in its bootstrap messages and disseminates it to all PIM routers in the domain. Based on this information, all routers are able to map multicast groups to specific RPs. As long as a router is receiving the bootstrap message, it has a current RP map.

When PIM-SM is used with SSM, multi-cast routing is easier to manage. This is because RPs (rendezvous points) are not required and therefore, no shared trees (*,G) are built.

There is no specific IETF document defining PIM-SSM. However, RFC4607 defines the overall SSM behavior.

In the rest of this document, we use the term PIM-SSM to describe PIM behavior and configuration when SSM is used.

In many multicast deployments where the source is known, protocol-independent multicast-source-specific multicast (PIM-SSM) mapping is the obvious multicast routing protocol choice to use because of its simplicity. Typical multicast deployments that benefit from PIM-SSM consist of entertainment-type solutions like the ETTH space, or financial deployments that completely rely on static forwarding.

In SSM, delivery of data grams is based on (S,G) channels. Traffic for one (S,G) channel consists of datagrams with an IP unicast source address S and the multicast group address G as the IP destination address. Systems receive traffic by becoming members of the (S,G) channel. Signaling is not required, but receivers must subscribe or unsubscribe to (S,G) channels to receive or not receive traffic from specific sources. Channel subscription signaling uses IGMP to include mode membership reports, which are supported only in Version 3 of IGMP (IGMPv3).

To run SSM with IGMPv3, SSM must be supported on the multicast router, the host where the application is running, and the application itself. Cisco IOS XR Software allows SSM configuration for an arbitrary subset of the IP multicast address range 224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255.

When an SSM range is defined, existing IP multicast receiver applications do not receive any traffic when they try to use addresses in the SSM range, unless the application is modified to use explicit (S,G) channel subscription.

Cisco IOS XR Software provides support for Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) over IPv4.

IGMP provides a means for hosts to indicate which multicast traffic they are interested in and for routers to control and limit the flow of multicast traffic throughout the network. Routers build state by means of IGMP messages; that is, router queries and host reports.

A set of routers and hosts that receive multicast data streams from the same source is called a multicast group. Hosts use IGMP messages to join and leave multicast groups.

Note

IGMP messages use group addresses, which are Class D IP addresses. The high-order four bits of a Class D address are 1110. Host group addresses can be in the range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255. The address 224.0.0.0 is guaranteed not to be assigned to any group. The address 224.0.0.1 is assigned to all systems on a subnet. The address 224.0.0.2 is assigned to all routers on a subnet.

Functioning of IGMP Routing

The following image "IGMP Singaling" , illustrates two sources, 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.1.1, that are multicasting to group 239.1.1.1.

The receiver wants to receive traffic addressed to group 239.1.1.1 from source 10.0.0.1 but not from source 10.0.1.1.

The host must send an IGMPv3 message containing a list of sources and groups (S, G) that it wants to join and a list of sources and groups (S, G) that it wants to leave. Router C can now use this information to prune traffic from Source 10.0.1.1 so that only Source 10.0.0.1 traffic is being delivered to Router C.

Note	When configuring IGMP, ensure that all systems on the subnet support the same IGMP version. The router does not automatically detect Version 1 systems.

By default, Cisco IOS XR supports IGMPv3; however, the IGMP version can be changed through the CLI. IGMPv3 provides backward compatibility with IGMPv2. When an IOS XR router with a default setting of IGMPv3 receives an IGMPv2 report, it turns on the old host compatibility mode and treats the report as (*,G) EXCLUDE {none}. This indicates that IGMPv3 filters do not exclude any source from sending traffic to this multicast group.

DNS-based SSM mapping enables you to configure the last hop router to perform a reverse DNS lookup to determine sources sending to groups (see the figure below). When DNS-based SSM mapping is configured, the router constructs a domain name that includes the group address G and performs a reverse lookup into the DNS. The router looks up IP address resource records (IP A RRs) to be returned for this constructed domain name and uses the returned IP addresses as the source addresses associated with this group. SSM mapping supports up to 20 sources for each group. The router joins all sources configured for a group.

The SSM mapping mechanism that enables the last hop router to join multiple sources for a group can be used to provide source redundancy for a TV broadcast. In this context, the redundancy is provided by the last hop router using SSM mapping to join two video sources simultaneously for the same TV channel. However, to prevent the last hop router from duplicating the video traffic, it is necessary that the video sources utilize a server-side switchover mechanism where one video source is active while the other backup video source is passive. The passive source waits until an active source failure is detected before sending the video traffic for the TV channel. The server-side switchover mechanism, thus, ensures that only one of the servers is actively sending the video traffic for the TV channel.

The multicast-domain argument is a configurable DNS prefix. The default DNS prefix is in-addr.arpa. You should only use the default prefix when your installation is either separate from the internet or if the group names that you map are global scope group addresses (RFC 2770 type addresses that you configure for SSM) that you own.

The timeout argument configures the length of time for which the router performing SSM mapping will cache the DNS lookup. This argument is optional and defaults to the timeout of the zone in which this entry is configured. The timeout indicates how long the router will keep the current mapping before querying the DNS server for this group. The timeout is derived from the cache time of the DNS RR entry and can be configured for each group/source entry on the DNS server. You can configure this time for larger values if you want to minimize the number of DNS queries generated by the router. Configure this time for a low value if you want to be able to quickly update all routers with new source addresses.

Note	See your DNS server documentation for more information about configuring DNS RRs.

To configure DNS-based SSM mapping in the software, you must configure a few global commands but no per-channel specific configuration is needed. There is no change to the configuration for SSM mapping if additional channels are added. When DNS-based SSM mapping is configured, the mappings are handled entirely by one or more DNS servers. All DNS techniques for configuration and redundancy management can be applied to the entries needed for DNS-based SSM mapping. Enable IP multicast routing, enable PIM sparse mode, and configure SSM before performing this task. Before you can configure and use SSM mapping with DNS lookups, you need to be able to add records to a running DNS server. If you do not already have a DNS server running, you need to install one. The Cisco IOS XR software does not provide for DNS server functionality.

Configure a source (1.1.1.1) as part of a set of sources that map SSM groups described by the specified access-list (4).

Router#configure
Router(config)#ipv4 access-list 4
Router(config-ipv4-acl)#permit ipv4 any 229.1.1.0 0.0.0.255
Router(config-ipv4-acl)#exit
Router(config)# multicast-routing
Router(config-mcast)#address-family ipv4
Router(config-mcast-default-ipv4)#ssm range 4
Router(config-mcast-default-ipv4)#exit
Router(config-mcast)#exit
Router(config)#router igmp
Router(config-igmp)#ssm map static 1.1.1.1 4
*/Repeat the above step as many times as you have source addresses to include in the set for SSM mapping/*
Router(config-igmp)#int te0/0/0/3
Router(config-igmp-default-if)#static-group 229.1.1.1
Router(config-igmp-default-if)#commit

Router#show run multicast-routing
multicast-routing
 address-family ipv4
  ssm range 4
  interface all enable
 !
!
Router#show access-lists 4
ipv4 access-list 4
 10 permit ipv4 any 229.1.1.0 0.0.0.255
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:INB#sh run router igmp
Mon Apr 25 15:27:23.471 UTC
router igmp
 interface TenGigE0/0/0/3
  static-group 229.1.1.1
 !
 ssm map static 1.1.1.1 4

Router#show mrib route 229.1.1.1
IP Multicast Routing Information Base
Entry flags: L - Domain-Local Source, E - External Source to the Domain,
    C - Directly-Connected Check, S - Signal, IA - Inherit Accept,
    IF - Inherit From, D - Drop, ME - MDT Encap, EID - Encap ID,
    MD - MDT Decap, MT - MDT Threshold Crossed, MH - MDT interface handle
    CD - Conditional Decap, MPLS - MPLS Decap, EX - Extranet
    MoFE - MoFRR Enabled, MoFS - MoFRR State, MoFP - MoFRR Primary
    MoFB - MoFRR Backup, RPFID - RPF ID Set, X - VXLAN
Interface flags: F - Forward, A - Accept, IC - Internal Copy,
    NS - Negate Signal, DP - Don't Preserve, SP - Signal Present,
    II - Internal Interest, ID - Internal Disinterest, LI - Local Interest,
    LD - Local Disinterest, DI - Decapsulation Interface
    EI - Encapsulation Interface, MI - MDT Interface, LVIF - MPLS Encap,
    EX - Extranet, A2 - Secondary Accept, MT - MDT Threshold Crossed,
    MA - Data MDT Assigned, LMI - mLDP MDT Interface, TMI - P2MP-TE MDT Interface
    IRMI - IR MDT Interface
(1.1.1.1,229.1.1.1) RPF nbr: 1.1.1.1 Flags: RPF
  Up: 00:01:11
  Incoming Interface List
    Loopback0 Flags: A, Up: 00:01:11
  Outgoing Interface List
    TenGigE0/0/0/3 Flags: F NS LI, Up: 00:01:11

Nonstop forwarding (NSF) feature for multicast packet forwarding helps alleviating network failures, or software upgrades and downgrades. Although it is recommended to use the NSF lifetime default values, it is possible to modify the NSF timeout values for Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP). Use these commands when PIM and IGMP are configured with nondefault interval or query intervals for join and prune operations.

Generally, configure the IGMP NSF and PIM NSF lifetime values to equal or exceed the query or join query interval. For example, if you set the IGMP query interval to 120 seconds, set the IGMP NSF lifetime to 120 seconds (or greater). If the Cisco IOS XR Software control plane does not converge and reconnect after NSF is enabled on your router, multicast packet forwarding continues for up to 15 minutes, then packet forwarding stops.

For NSF to operate in your multicast network, you must also enable NSF for the unicast protocols (such as IS-IS, OSPF, and BGP) that PIM relies on for Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) information.

Router#configure
Router(config)#router igmp
Router(config-igmp)#nsf lifetime 30
Router(config-igmp)#commit
Router(config-igmp)#router pim
Router(config-pim)#address-family ipv4
Router(config-pim-default-ipv4)#nsf lifetime 30
*/If you configure the PIM hello interval to a nondefault value, configure the PIM NSF lifetime to a value less than the hello 
hold time. Typically, the value of the hold-time field is 3.5 times the interval time value, or 120 seconds if the PIM hello 
interval time is 30 seconds/*.
Router(config-pim-default-ipv4)#commit

Router#show run router igmp
router igmp
 nsf lifetime 30
!
Router#show run router pim
router pim
 address-family ipv4
  rp-address 3.3.3.3
  nsf lifetime 30
 !

Router#show pim nsf detail
IP PIM Non-Stop Forwarding Status:
Multicast routing state: Normal
   NSF Lifetime:       00:00:30
   Last NSF On triggered: Thu Apr 21 15:37:43 2016, 4d00h
   Last NSF Off triggered: Thu Apr 21 15:37:43 2016, 4d00h
   Last NSF ICD Notification received: never, never
   Respawn Count: 1

Router#show igmp nsf detail
IGMP Non-Stop Forwarding Status:
Multicast routing state: Normal
   NSF Lifetime:       00:00:30
   Last NSF On triggered: Thu Apr 21 15:37:47 2016, 4d00h
   Last NSF Off triggered: Thu Apr 21 15:37:47 2016, 4d00h
   Last NSF ICD Notification received: never, never
   Respawn Count: 1

In today's broadcast video networks, proprietary transport systems are used to deliver entire channel line-ups to each video branch office. IP based transport network would be a cost efficient/convenient alternative to deliver video services combined with the delivery of other IP based services. (Internet delivery or business services)

By its very nature, broadcast video is a service well-suited to using IP multicast as a more efficient delivery mechanism to reach end customers.

Video Streaming