Multipoint

Communication
over IP
Raj Jain
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
[email protected]
http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~jain/

The Ohio State University Raj Jain

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 Overview

 Why Multipoint?
 Multipoint Routing Algorithms
 Multipoint Communication in IP networks

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 Multipoint
Communication
 Can be done at any layer
 Application Layer: Video Conferencing
 Transport Layer: ATM
 Network Layer: IP
 Datalink + Physical Layers: Ethernet

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 Multipoint Applications
 Audiovisual conferencing
 Distance Learning
 Video on Demand
 Tele-metering
 Distributed interactive games
 Data distribution (usenet, stock prices)
 Server synchronization (DNS/Routing updates)
 Advertising and locating servers
 Communicating to unknown/dynamic group
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 Application Layer
Multipoint Comm.

 Problems: n times more

processing/buffering/bandwidth overhead
 Applications need lower layers’ help in handling
unknown addresses
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 IP Multicast in a Subnet
 224.0.0/24 are not forwarded by multicast routers.
Address Meaning
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
224.0.0.7 ST routers
224.0.0.8 ST Hosts
224.0.0.9 RIP2 Routers
224.0.0.11 Mobile Agents
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 Other IP Multicast Addresses
 224.0.1/24
Address Assignment
224.0.1.1 Network Time Protocol
224.0.1.2 SGI-Dogfight
224.0.1.3 rwhod
224.0.1.5 Artificial Horizons - Aviator
224.0.1.20 Any private experiment
224.0.1.21 DVMRP on MOSPF
224.0.1.22 SVRLOC
224.0.1.23 XINGTV
224.0.1.32 mtrace
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 IP Multicasts on IEEE 802 LANs
 The low order 23-bits of the IP multicast are added to
the IETF’s OUI (0x00-00-5E)
 Example: 239.147.6.99
= 1110-1111 1001-0011 0000-0110 0110-0011
LAN address:
0000-0001 0000-0000 0101-1110 0001-0011 0000-
0110 0110-0011
= 0x01-00-5E-13-06-63
 Note the the lsb of the first byte is 1  Multicast 802
address

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 Multipoint Routing
Algorithms
 Flooding
 Spanning Trees
 Reverse Path Forwarding
 Flood and Prune
 Steiner Trees
 Center-Based Trees, e.g., core-based trees
Most routing protocol standards are combination of
these algorithms.
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 Flooding
 Used in usenet news
 Forward if first reception of this packet
 Need to maintain a list of recently seen packets
 Sometimes the message has a trace of recent path

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 Spanning Tree
1 2
A C E A C E
3 4
6 5
B D B D
 Used by MAC bridges
 Packet is forwarded on all branches of the tree except
the one it came on
 Problem:
All packets from all sources follow the same path
 Congestion
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 Reverse Path Forwarding
1 2 1 2
A C E A C E
3 4 3 4
6 5 6 5
B D B D

 Also known as reverse path broadcasting (RPB)

 Used initially in MBone
 On receipt, note source S and interface I
 If “I” belongs to shortest path towards S,
forward to all interfaces except I
 Otherwise drop the packet
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 RPF (Cont)
1 2
A C E
3 4
6 5
B D

 Optionally, check and forward only if the node is on

the shortest path to the next node
 Implicit spanning tree. Different tree for different
sources.
 Problem: Packets flooded to entire network

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 Truncated RPB
1 2
A C E
3 4
B 6 D 5

No listeners at E
 All packets are flooded
 All leaf routers will receive the packets
 Leaf routers do not forward the packets to networks
where there are no listeners

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 Reverse Path Multicasting
1 2 1 2
A C E A C E
Prune Graft
3 4 3 4
B 6 D 5 B 6 D 5

No listeners at E Listeners at E
 TRPB with prune and graft = RPM
 Used in MBone since September 1993
 First packet is flooded
 All leaf routers will receive the first packet
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 RPM (cont)
 If no group member on the subnet,
the router sends a "prune"
 If all branches pruned, the intermediate router sends a
"prune"
 Periodically, source floods a packet
 Problem: Per group and per source state

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 Steiner Trees
A 1 C 2 E A 1 C 2 E
3 7 6 1 3 7 6 1
B 6 D F B 6 D F
1 1
(a) F is not a member (b) F joins the group
 Centralized algorithm to compute global optimal
spanning tree given all listeners
 Applies only if links are symmetric
 NP Complete  Exponential complexity
 Not implemented
 Tree varies with the membership  Unstable
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 Center-Based Trees
1 2
A C E
3 4
B 6 D 5

 Aimed at multiple senders, multiple recipients

 Core-based tree (CBT) is the most popular example
 Choose a center
 Receivers send join messages to the center
(routers remember the input interface)
 Senders send packets towards the center until they
reach any router on the tree
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 CBT (Cont)
 Possible to have multiple centers for
fault tolerance
 Routers need to remember one interface per group
(not per source)  More scalable than RPF
 Problem: Suboptimal for some sources and some
receivers

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 Multipoint Routing
Protocols
 Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF)
 Distance-vector multicast routing protocol
(DVMRP): Flood and prune
 Multicast extensions to Open Shortest-Path First
Protocol (MOSPF): Source-based trees (RPF)
 Protocol-Independent Multicast - Dense mode
(PIM-DM): Flood and prune
 Protocol-Independent Multicast - Sparse mode
(PIM-SM): Core-based trees
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 IGMP
Ver Type Reserved Checksum
Group Address
 Internet Group Management Protocol
 Used by hosts to report multicast membership
 Join-IP-Multicast Group (address, interface)
 Leave-IP-Multicast Group (address, interface)
 Ref: RFC 1112 (Version 1)
Routers

Hosts
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 IGMP Operation
 One "Querier" router per link
 Every 60-90 seconds, querier broadcasts
"query" to all-systems (224.0.0.1) with TTL = 1
 After a random delay of 0-10 seconds, hosts respond
for each multicast group
 Everyone hears responses and stops the delay timer
 One response per group
 Non-responding groups are timed-out
 New hosts send a "membership report" immediately
without waiting for query
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 IGMP Version 2
Type Max Resp Checksum
Group Address
 Querier election method
 Messages include "maximum response time"
 "Leave group" message to reduce leave latency
Sent only if the host that responded to the last query
leaves
 Querier then issues a "membership query" with a
short response time
 Already implemented. RFC soon.
Ref: http://www.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-igmp-v2-06.txt
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 IGMP Version 3
 Allows hosts to listen to
 A specified set of hosts sending to a
group
 All but a specified set of hosts sending to a group

 Allows informing the source if no one is listening

 Being designed.

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 Reverse Path Forwarding
(RPF)
 Originally due to Dalal and Metcalfe
Modified by Steve Deering for IP Multicasting
 Send multicast packets received on SPF interface from
the source to all other interfaces
 Pruning: Forward on an interface only if there is a
group member downstream
 Routers need to remember whether any listeners
for all groups and all interfaces
 May be excessive overhead for large number of
groups
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 DVMRP
 Distance Vector Multicast Routing
Protocol
 Multicast extension of RIP
 Broadcast and prune approach
 Periodically, packets are broadcast to all routers
 Routers with no downstream members send prune
messages
 Later routers may send graft messages to add
members
 Broadcast and prune  OK for dense group.
High overhead for a sparse group.
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 DVMRP (Cont)

P G

P G

(a) Initial (b) Truncated (c) Pruning(d) Grafting

Topology Broadcast

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 Hierarchical DVMRP
 Two level hierarchy: Regions and
inter-regions
 Boundary routers run DVMRP
 Internal routers run any multicast protocols

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 MOSPF
 Multicast Open Shortest Path First
(Link state)
 Routers build source-based trees
 Tree is pruned based on the group membership
 Packets forwarded only on the interfaces in the pruned
tree
 Group membership advertised by a link state record
 Heavy computation
 Computation done only if a packet is received
 Expensive for a large number of groups and large
number of sources
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 PIM
 Protocol Independent Multicast
 Unicast routes are imported from existing
tables
 Use RIP or OSPF tables  Protocol Independent
 Two modes: Dense and Sparse
 PIM-DM is similar to DVMRP.
Uses broadcast and prune.
 PIM-SM is similar to core-based tree.
Uses a rendezvous point (RP)

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 PIM-SM (Cont)
Source
A 1 C 2 E A 1 C 2 E
3 4 RP 3 4
B 6 D 5 B 6 D 5

 RP Tree: Reverse shortest path tree rooted at RP

 Routers with listeners join towards RP
 Routers with sources send encapsulated packets to RP
 Routers with listeners and RP may initiate switching
to source-specific SPT

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 Summary

 Multipoint communication is required for many

applications and network operations
 Network and transport support
 Internet community has developed and experimented
with many solutions for multipoint communication

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 Key References
 See http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~jain/
refs/mul_refs.htm for further references.
 C. Huitema, "Routing in the Internet,"
Prentice-Hall, 1995
 T. Maufer and C. Semeria, "Introduction to IP
Multicast Routing," March 1997,
http://www.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-
mboned-intro-multicast-02.txt

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 References (Cont)
 S. Fahmy, et al, "Protocols and Open
Issues in ATM Multipoint
Communications," http://www.cse.ohio-
state.edu/~jain/papers/mcast.htm
 C. Diot, et al, "Multipoint Communication: A
Survey of Protocols, Functions, and Mechanisms,"
IEEE JSAC, April 1997, pp. 277-290.

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