Configuring IP Multicast 71312Configuring IP MulticastOverviewThis chapter describes how to configure IPv4 and IPv6 multicast features on the PowerConnect 6200Series.To display the IPv4 Multicast menu page, click IPv4 Multicast in the tree view. The IPv4 Multicastmenu page contains links to the following features:• Multicast• Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol• Internet Group Management Protocol• Protocol Independent MulticastTo display the IPv6 Multicast menu page, click IPv6 Multicast in the tree view. The IPv6 Multicastmenu page contains links to the following features:• Multicast• Multicast Listener Discovery• Protocol Independent MulticastMulticast protocols are used to deliver Multicast packets from one source to multi receivers. Theyfacilitate better bandwidth utilization, less host and router processing, making them ideal for usagein applications like video or audio conferencing, Whiteboard tools, stock distribution tickers etc.Multicast applications send one copy of a packet, and address it to a group of receivers (MulticastGroup Address) rather than to a single receiver (unicast address). Multicast depends on the networkto forward the packets to only those networks and hosts that need to receive them.Multicast capable/enabled routers forward multicast packets based on the routes in the MulticastRouting Information Base (MRIB). These routes are created in the MRIB during the process ofbuilding multicast distribution trees by the Multicast Protocols running on the router. Different IPMulticast routing protocols use different techniques to construct these multicast distribution trees.If Multicast traffic is to be routed through a part of a network that does not support multicasting(routers which are not multicast capable) then the multicast packets are encapsulated in an IPdatagram and sent as a unicast packet. When the multicast router at the remote end of the tunnelreceives the packet, the router strips off the IP encapsulation and forwards the packet as an IPMulticast packet. This process of encapsulating multicast packets in IP is called tunneling.
