Multicast in Carrier-Grade Networks

This project addresses the problem of supporting efficient multicast in the ISP network. The set of problems range from designing scalable and stateless protocols to tools and algorithms that optimize the multicast traffic

People

• Khaled Diab
• Mohamed Hefeeda

Multicast Traffic Engineering in Carrier-Grade Networks

Abstract

Multicast Traffic Engineering (TE) allows network operators to control the paths of multicast sessions inside their networks. However, current multicast TE technologies suffer from large state requirements at switches, high communication overhead between controller and switches, and inability to support traffic-engineered paths. In this paper, we propose a new source routing protocol (called SR-MCAST) to support efficient multicast TE inside carrier networks. SR-MCAST carefully labels packets of a multicast session according to the paths that the operator specifies. In particular, SR-MCAST consists of two components: centralized controller and packet processing algorithm. The controller attaches labels to packets in each multicast session. The packet processing algorithm at core switches processes labels of incoming packets, and forwards and duplicates packets accordingly. SR-MCAST addresses the challenges of multicast TE by representing combination of local interfaces in labels, reducing the number of copied labels when a packet is duplicated, and eliminating additional state at switches and communication between controller and core switches.

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