Forwarding groups of multicast flows

摘要

A routing element and method for forwarding multicast traffic in a network includes grouping a collection of path-related multicast information flows from a source and associating each information flow of the collection with a multicast address from a set of multicast addresses. Forwarding information is placed in routers within the network between the sources and destinations wherein the forwarding information includes a single entry in a forwarding table using an identifier, e.g., a representative address, for the collection.

主权项

1. A routing element for a communications network, comprising:
a forwarding table having a collection of distinct lists of outgoing physical router interfaces used by one or more of a plurality of multicast groups transmitting through the routing element, the forwarding table including grouping information employed to combine two or more of the distinct lists to concurrently provide a multicast flow to the outgoing physical router interfaces on the two or more of the distinct lists; and a replication element configured to map the multicast flow in accordance with the grouping information.