Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A multicast address is a logical identifier for a group of hosts in a computer network that are available to process datagrams or frames intended to be multicast for a designated network service. Multicast addressing can be used in the link layer (layer 2 in the OSI model ), such as Ethernet multicast, and at the internet layer (layer 3 for OSI ...
IP multicast is a method of sending Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams to a group of interested receivers in a single transmission. It is the IP-specific form of multicast and is used for streaming media and other network applications. It uses specially reserved multicast address blocks in IPv4 and IPv6.
The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is a communications protocol used by hosts and adjacent routers on IPv4 networks to establish multicast group memberships. IGMP is an integral part of IP multicast and allows the network to direct multicast transmissions only to hosts that have requested them.
Multicast: In multicast communication, data is sent from one source to multiple specific receivers, often to a defined group within a network. This is efficient in scenarios like live streaming, where the data is only sent once but received by multiple devices interested in the same content.
Only one copy of the data is sent from the source, and multiple copies are created and then sent to the desired recipient by the network infrastructure nodes. [1] In for example IP multicast, a multicast group is identified by a class D IP address. A host enters or exits a group using IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol). [2]
Multicast is a network addressing method for the delivery of information to a group of destinations simultaneously using the most efficient strategy to deliver the messages over each link of the network only once, creating copies only when the links to the multiple destinations split (typically network switches and routers).
Ethernet nodes implement unicast by ignoring packets not directly addressed to them. A wireless network is naturally multicast – all devices within a reception radius of a transmitter can receive its packets. Wireless nodes ignore packets addressed to other devices, but require forwarding to reach nodes outside their reception radius.
Since the group address computation produce shortest path trees, there is only ever one copy of a multicast packet on any given link. Since only bridges on a shortest path between participating logical ports create forwarding database (FDB) state the multicast makes the efficient use of network resources.