Router Core

A core router is a router designed to operate in the Internet backbone, or core. To fulfill this role, a router must be able to support multiple telecommunications interfaces of the highest speed in use in the core Internet and must be able to forward IP packets at full speed on all of them. It must also support the routing protocols being used in the core. A core router is distinct from an edge router: edge routers sit at the edge of a backbone network and connect to core routers.

Key Protocols and Features Supported in the Cisco IOS XR Software Multicast Routing Implementation

Key Protocols and Features Supported in the Cisco IOS XR Software Multicast Routing Implementationlists the supported features for IPv4 and IPv6 multicast routing in Cisco IOS XR Software.
Table 1 Supported Features for IPv4 and IPv6 on Cisco CRS Routers

Feature Dynamic host registration Explicit tracking of hosts, groups, and channels PIM-SM
1

IPv4 Support Yes (IGMP v3) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

IPv6 Support Yes (MLD v2) Yes Yes Yes No Yes4 Yes No Yes Yes No

Yes (IGMP v1/2/3) Yes (MLD v1/2)

PIM-SSM2 PIM-Bidir3 Auto-RP Multicast VPN BSR5 MSDP6 BGP7 Multicast NSF8 OOR handling9
9

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Multicast Routing Functional Overview

Traditional IP communication allows a host to send packets to a single host (unicast transmission) or to all hosts (broadcast transmission). Multicast provides a third scheme, allowing a host to send a single data stream to a subset of all hosts (group transmission) at about the same time. IP hosts are known as group members.

Packets delivered to group members are identified by a single multicast group address. Multicast packets are delivered to a group using best-effort reliability, just like IP unicast packets. 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. A multicast address is chosen for the receivers in a multicast group. Senders use that group address as the destination address of a datagram to reach all members of the group. Membership in a multicast group is dynamic; hosts can join and leave at any time. There is no restriction on the location or number of members in a multicast group. A host can be a member of more than one multicast group at a time. How active a multicast group is and what members it has can vary from group to group and from time to time. A multicast group can be active for a long time, or it may be very short-lived. Membership in a group can change constantly. A group that has members may have no activity. Routers use the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) (IPv4) and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) (IPv6) to learn whether members of a group are present on their directly attached subnets. Hosts join multicast groups by sending IGMP or MLD report messages. Many multimedia applications involve multiple participants. Multicast is naturally suitable for this communication paradigm.

Cisco IOS XR Software Multicast Routing Implementation

Cisco IOS XR Software Multicast Routing Implementation

Cisco IOS XR Software supports the following protocols to implement multicast routing:

IGMP and MLD are used (depending on the IP protocol) between hosts on a LAN and the routers on that LAN to track the multicast groups of which hosts are members. Protocol Independent Multicast in sparse mode (PIM-SM) is used between routers so that they can track which multicast packets to forward to each other and to their directly connected LANs. Protocol Independent Multicast in Source-Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM) is similar to PIM-SM with the additional ability to report interest in receiving packets from specific source addresses (or from all but the specific source addresses), to an IP multicast address. PIM-SSM is made possible by IGMPv3 and MLDv2. Hosts can now indicate interest in specific sources using IGMPv3 and MLDv2. SSM does not require a rendezvous point (RP) to operate. PIM Bidirectional is a variant of the Protocol Independent Multicast suit of routing protocols for IP multicast. PIM-BIDIR is designed to be used for many-to-many applications within individual PIM domains.

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

Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American manufacturer of networking equipment founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services. Juniper's main products include T-series, M-series, E-series, MXseries, and J-series families of routers, EX-series Ethernet switches and SRX-series security products. Junos, Juniper's own network operating system, runs on most Juniper products.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. is an American technology company specializing in data and storage networking products. The company's products include network-attached storage, storage area network (SAN) directors and switches, data center switches, Virtual Cluster Switching, software-defined networking, network virtualization, Federal, Internet service provider and enterprise Ethernet (local area network/wireless local area network) switches and wide area network (Internet) routers, application delivery controllers (load balancers), network security appliances, Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) and converged network adapters (CNAs), and Ethernet transceivers. Founded in 1995, Brocade is headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. In March 2012, the company held the largest market share in SAN switches.[2] Alcatel-Lucent (French pronunciation: [alkatl lysnt]) is a French global mobile phone manufacturer and telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. The company focuses on fixed, mobile, and converged networking hardware, IP technologies, software, and services. It holds Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation and R&D houses in the communications industry. Bell Labs employees have been awarded 7 Nobel Prizes and the company holds over 29,000 patents. Alcatel-Lucent has operations in more than 130 countries. In 2011 it was added to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.[2] The company is under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Michel Combes and the nonexecutive Chairman of the Board is Philippe Camus. Camus joined the company in the third quarter of 2008, alongside Ben Verwaayen as CEO, after Alcatel-Lucent's first CEO Patricia Russo and first Chairman Serge Tchuruk resigned.[3] For 2010, the company posted revenues of 15.996 billion and a reported net loss of 334 million.[4] For 2011, the company posted revenues of 15.068 billion and a reported profit of 1.095 billion.