Multicast Server Architectures for MARS-based ATM Multicasting

Multicast Server Architectures for MARS-based ATM multicasting. Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as``work in progress.'' To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check thè`1id-abstracts.txt'' listing contained in the Internet-Drafts Shadow Directories on ds.internic.net (US East Coast), nic.nordu.net (Europe), Abstract A mechanism to support the multicast needs of layer 3 protocols in general, and IP in particular, over UNI 3.0/3.1 based ATM networks has been described in draft-ietf-ipatm-ipmc-12.txt. Two basic approaches exist for the intra-subnet (intra-cluster) multicasting of IP packets. One makes use of a mesh of point to multipoint VCs (the 'VC Mesh' approach), while the other uses a shared point to multipoint tree rooted on a Multicast Server (MCS). This memo provides details on the design and implementation of an MCS, building on the core mechanisms defined in draft-ietf-ipatm-ipmc-12.txt. It also provides a mechanism for using multiple MCSs per group for providing fault tolerance. This approach can be used with draft-ietf-ipatm-ipmc-12.txt based MARS server and clients, without needing any change in their functionality.