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his chapter will cover the steps and syntax for configuring IP

multicast on Cisco routers and switches. There will be several new com-
mands seen in this chapter. Learning about multicast and actually getting it
working on a network are two different things. By the time you finish this
chapter, questions, and lab, you will be thoroughly familiar with multicast
and its implementation. Pay attention to small details that would normally
seem unimportant. They are usually the key to a successful implementation
of an IP multicast network.

First you will need to understand how to deploy an IP multicast network.

Once you have a plan in place, you can move on to actually configuring
equipment. Not only do the routers have to be IP multicast enabled, but you
must enable a multicast protocol on every interface that you want to be able
to forward multicast traffic.

An IP multicast network won't work too well without a couple of (or at

least one) rendezvous points (RPs), so you'll have to configure them as well.
Then, in order to keep your multicast local to the enterprise network, you'll need
to configure the Time to Live (TTL) thresholds on your external interfaces.

After the routers have been configured, you can concentrate on the hosts.

Of course, we won't discuss host configuration in this chapter, but we will
get down and enable Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP) on the
routers and switches, so once the hosts are configured, the network will be
available.

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