Methods and apparatus for managing multicast traffic through a switch

摘要

A method for managing multicast traffic through a switch operating in the layer 2 of the OSI model, and routers and switches involved in the method. In one implementation a router sends to a switch a message containing identification of specific equipment which has requested specific multicast traffic, and also containing a specification of the specific traffic, and when the switch receives data carrying multicast traffic, based on the destination and origin addresses of the data, and based on the identification of the specific equipment and of the specification of the specific multicast traffic that it has received in the message, the switch deduces if the data carry the specific traffic that has been requested by the specific equipment, and decides through which of its ports it transmits the data.

主权项

1. A process implemented in a switch having a plurality of ports and situated in a data network between an equipment that sends a request for multicast traffic from a multicast group address and a first router that receives the requests for multicast traffic from the multicast group address, the process comprising:
a) receiving a message from the first router, the message being related to the request for multicast traffic from the multicast group address, wherein the message comprises an identifier of the equipment requesting the multicast traffic from the multicast group address, an INCLUDE type source records and/or an EXCLUDE type source records, wherein the INCLUDE type source record is associated with the equipment and indicates that the equipment wishes to receive multicast traffic sent by a first plurality of sources specified in the INCLUDE type source record of the multicast group address, and said EXCLUDE type source record is associated with the equipment and indicates that the equipment wishes to receive multicast traffic sent b all the sources of the multicast address except a second plurality of sources specified in the EXCLUDE type source record; b) deriving data from the message received and storing a respective record associating the equipment and the multicast group address, wherein the respective record further comprises information derived from the INCLUDE type record and/or the EXCLUDE type record; c) receiving the multicast traffic from the multicast group address and using the stored respective record for identifying a port of the switch corresponding to the equipment that sent the request for multicast traffic; and d) transmitting the received multicast traffic through the identified port to the equipment in accordance with the information derived from the INCLUDE type record and/or from the_EXCLUDE type record.