Routing Multicast Traffic
365
F I G U R E 9 . 1 5
TTL threshold utilization
The multicast source initially sets the TTL value for the multicast packet
and then forwards it on throughout the network. In this scenario, the TTL
threshold values have been set to 200 on both of the exiting POS interfaces.
The initial TTL value has been set to 30 by the application. There are three
to four router hops to get out of the campus network. Router3 will decre-
ment by one, leaving a TTL value of 29; the Catalyst 6509's MSFC will dec-
rement by one as well, leaving the value set to 28. Once the packet gets to
Router2 or Router1, the value will be 27 or 26 respectively. Both of these
values are less than the TTL threshold of 200, which means Router1 and
Router2 will drop any outbound multicast packets.
Routing Protocols
We now need to turn our attention to the variety of multicast routing pro-
tocols. Unicast has several routing protocols that build route tables that
enable layer 3 devices such as routers and some switches to forward unicast
A
B
D
C
E
H
G
F
Router2
Router3
Router4
Router1
Router5
Router6
TTL threshold = 200
GIGE0/1
GIGE1/1
POS 0/1/0
POS 0/0/0
GIGE1/0
GIGE1/0
Multicast source
224.2.126.240
TTL=30
6509
6509
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