IP Multicast Routing Protocol Basics

By Edward Tetz from Cisco Networking All-in-One For Dummies

IP Multicast Routing is the routing of the multicast traffic. The nature of IP Multicast data is such
that it has its own particular Cisco network routing challenges. There are four main Multicast
protocols that are supported by the current Cisco IOS. The illustration shows you approximately
where the protocols are used; the following is a list of the protocols:

Internet Group Message Protocol (IGMP): Used to track devices on LANs that are
members of multicast groups (or addresses). This protocol is used between the device and the
network router.

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM): Used to track which multicast addresses or

packets need to be sent to devices on the attached network segments or to other routers that
are directly attached via network segments.

Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP): Used to communicate with

Internet-based devices on the Multicast Backbone (MBONE). Cisco supports communication
between PIM and DVMRP. At this time, most service providers do not support multicast traffic
over their networks.

Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP): A proprietary Cisco protocol used to

communicate with Cisco Catalyst switches in operations that are similar to IGMP.

Multicast Routing Configuration

By Edward Tetz from Cisco Networking All-in-One For Dummies
Enabling basic multicast routing functionality on your network does not require a lot of work and
can be implemented fairly quickly. Some configuration is done in Global Configuration mode and
some configuration is done in Interface Configuration mode.

Enabling multicast routing

The first command that you perform in Global Configuration mode is the ipmulticast
routing command, which enables multicast routing for the router. Enabling multicast routing
initially does not route any data, due in fact that the default configuration leaves all router
interfaces without multicast routing in their configuration.
To have multicast routing in a working configuration, you must enter each interface and configure
the PIM on those interfaces. To enable PIM on an interface, you use the ippim command, which
accepts either a densemode or sparsemode option. When you enable PIM on an interface,
you automatically enable IGMP on those interfaces.

Supporting Sparse-Dense mode

Some groups may require Sparse mode or Dense mode in order to operate properly. Because you
configure an interface for one mode or the other, you might find yourself in a catch-22 where you
need both installed. To deal with this issue, Cisco supports all modes on its IOS routers, where the
mode is applied to the multicast group on the router and not its interfaces.
Because you may end up using Sparse mode for some groups, you require an RP to be
configured. When using Sparse-Dense mode, you need to implement it throughout the network to
avoid conflicts between Sparse mode and Dense mode interfaces. You implement the SparseDense mode with the command ippimsparsedensemode.
As just mentioned, an RP is a router on your network, so you need to assign this function to one or
more routers on your network. Doing so does not require configuration on the RP router, but rather
on the downstream router. The downstream router requires the address of an RP, which is
accomplished by running the ippimrpaddressrpaddress[accesslist]
[override] command using Global Configuration mode.
Sparse mode implementations require the RP to be specified, although Sparse-Dense mode it is
an option as you can use Auto-RP.

Using Auto-RP rather than RPs

Rather than specifying specific RP routers, you can use Auto-RP to automate the selection and
configuration of RP routers on your network. Auto-RP allows you to easily use multiple routers on
your network because the RPs may be serving different groups or splitting the load over several
routers. The routers could be based on the location of a multicast groups receivers and
connectivity issues could be caused by inconsistent configuration across your network.
To configure Auto-RP mode, you need to make two configuration changes, one on the router you
want to act as an RP and one on the router that will manage group mappings to RPs. The first
command is issued in Global Configuration mode:
ippimsendrpannouncetypenumberscopettlvalue[grouplistaccess
list][intervalseconds]

whereas the second command is

ippimsendrpdiscoveryscopettlvalue

Testing connectivity
You can configure your router to be a member of a multicast group so that you can test
connectivity. To add your router as a member, use the ipigmpjoingroupgroup
address command in Interface Configuration mode. By default, the router uses IGMP version 2,
which maximizes functionality, because version 3 has some restrictions.
To change versions, use Interface Configuration mode and enter this command: ipigmp
version{3|2|1. All routers on the same network segment must use the same version of
IGMP, but IGMP version 2 routers will work correctly if IGMP version 1 routers are on the network.
So, given the network layout, Router2 may have the following configuration commands to enable
PIM routing Router1s setup commands then follow.
Router2>enable
Password:
Router2#configureterminal
Enterconfigurationcommands,oneperline.EndwithCNTL/Z.
Router2(config)#ipmulticastrouting
Router2(config)#ippimrpaddress192.168.1.2
Router2(config)#interfaceFastEthernet0/0
Router2(configif)#ipaddress192.168.1.240255.255.255.0
Router2(configif)#ippimsparsedensemode
Router2(configif)#exit
Router2(config)#ippimsendrpannounceFastEthernet0/0scope16group
list1
Router2(config)#accesslist1permit239.0.0.00.255.255.255
Router2(config)#exit
To set up Router 1, use these commands:
Router1>enable
Password:
Router1#configureterminal
Enterconfigurationcommands,oneperline.EndwithCNTL/Z.
Router1(config)#ipmulticastrouting
Router1(config)#ippimrpaddress192.168.1.2
Router1(config)#interfaceFastEthernet0/0
Router1(configif)#ipaddress192.168.1.2255.255.255.0
Router1(configif)#ippimsparsedensemode
Router1(configif)#exit
Router1(config)#ippimsendrpdiscoveryscope16
Router1(config)#exit