EXPLICIT LIST ENCODING OF SPARSE MULTICAST GROUP MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION WITH BIT INDEX EXPLICIT REPLICATION (BIER)

摘要

A network device executes a method to forward a packet that is encoded using an explicit list encoding of sparse multicast group membership information with Bit Index Explicit Replication. The method includes receiving a packet that includes a bitstring having a list of Bit Forwarding Router IDs (BFR-ids). The method further includes selecting a BFR-id identifying a destination Bit Forwarding Router (BFR) from the list for processing, looking up a forwarding bitmask for the destination BFR and a next-hop to reach the destination BFR in a bit index forwarding table, creating a copy of the packet, clearing the selected BFR-id from the packet, clearing BFR-ids from the packet and the copy of the packet based on the forwarding bitmask, and forwarding the copy of the packet to the next-hop neighbor.