Operation Manual – MulticastH3C S5600 Series Ethernet Switches Chapter 1 Multicast Overview1-1Chapter 1 Multicast OverviewNote:In this manual, the term “router” refers to a router in the generic sense or a Layer 3Ethernet switch running an IP multicast protocol.The following features are added in this version:z Enabling Multicast Packet Bufferingz Configuring Multicast Source Lifetimez IGMPv3 Snooping features. Refer to Configuring the Version of IGMP Snoopingand Configuring a Port as a Simulated Group Memberz Suppressing Flooding of Unknown Multicast Traffic in a VLANz Configuring Static Member Port for a Multicast Groupz Configuring a Static Router Portz Configuring a VLAN Tag for Query Messages1.1 Multicast OverviewWith the development of the Internet, more and more interaction services such as data,voice, and video services are running on the networks. In addition, highly bandwidth-and time-critical services, such as e-commerce, Web conference, online auction, videoon demand (VoD), and tele-education have come into being. These services havehigher requirements for information security, legal use of paid services, and networkbandwidth.In the network, packets are sent in three modes: unicast, broadcast and multicast. Thefollowing sections describe and compare data interaction processes in unicast,broadcast, and multicast.1.1.1 Information Transmission in the Unicast ModeIn unicast, the system establishes a separate data transmission channel for each userrequiring this information, and sends a separate copy of the information to the user, asshown in Figure 1-1:
