Network Working Group                             Steven Deering (XEROX)
Internet Draft                                      Deborah Estrin (USC)
                                                  Dino Farinacci (CISCO)
                                                      Mark Handley (UCL)
                                                       Ahmed Helmy (USC)
                                                      Van Jacobson (LBL)
                                                     Chinggung Liu (USC)
                                                     Puneet Sharma (USC)
                                                    David Thaler (UMICH)
                                                      Liming Wei (CISCO)

draft-ietf-idmr-pim-sm-spec-04.txt                         June 6, 1996
                                                   Expire in six months



   Protocol  Independent  Multicast-Sparse   Mode   (PIM-SM):   Protocol
   Specification



   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.  Internet  Drafts  may  be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by
   other documents at any time.  It is not appropriate to  use  Internet
   Drafts  as  reference  material  or  to  cite  them  other  than as a
   ``working'' draft'' or ``work in progress.''

   Please check the I-D abstract  listing  contained  in  each  Internet
   Draft  directory  to  learn  the  current status of this or any other
   Internet Draft.











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1 Introduction

   This  document  describes  a  protocol  for  efficiently  routing  to
   multicast   groups   that   may  span  wide-area  (and  inter-domain)
   internets.  We  refer  to  the  approach  as   Protocol   Independent
   Multicast--Sparse  Mode  (PIM-SM)  because it is not dependent on any
   particular unicast routing protocol, and because it  is  designed  to
   support  sparse  groups as defined in [1][2]. This document describes
   the protocol details. For the motivation  behind  the  design  and  a
   description  of  the  architecture, see [1][2]. Section  2 summarizes
   PIM-SM  operation.  It  describes  the  protocol   from   a   network
   perspective, in particular, how the participating routers interact to
   create and maintain  the  multicast  distribution  tree.  Section   3
   describes  PIM-SM  operations from the perspective of a single router
   implementing the protocol; this section constitutes the main body  of
   the  protocol  specification.  It  is  organized  according to PIM-SM
   message type; for each message type we  describe  its  contents,  its
   generation, and its processing.

   Section  4 provides packet format details.  Sections   3.8  and   3.9
   summarize the timers and flags referred to throughout this document.

   The most significant functional changes since the January '95 version
   involve  the  Rendezvous  Point-related mechanisms, several resulting
   simplifications to the protocol, and removal of the  PIM-DM  protocol
   details to a separate [3] (for clarity).


2 PIM-SM Protocol Overview

   In  this  section  we  provide  an  overview  of  the   architectural
   components of PIM-SM.

   A router  [*]

   receives explicit Join/Prune messages from those neighboring  routers
   that  have  downstream  group  members. The router then forwards data
   packets addressed to a multicast group, G, only onto those interfaces
   on which explicit joins have been received.

   A Designated Router (DR) sends periodic Join/Prune messages toward  a
   group-specific  Rendezvous Point (RP) for each group for which it has
   active members. Each router along the path toward  the  RP  builds  a
   wildcard  (any-source)  forwarding  state.  for  the  group and sends
_________________________
[*] All routers mentioned in this document are  assumed
to be PIM-SM capable, unless otherwise specified.




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   messages on toward the RP. We use the term  entry  to  refer  to  the
   forwarding state maintained in a router to represent the distribution
   tree. Each entry includes such things as the incoming interface  from
   which  packets are accepted, the list of outgoing interfaces to which
   packets are sent, timers, flag bits,  etc.  The  wildcard  forwarding
   entry's  incoming  interface  points  toward  the  RP;  the  outgoing
   interfaces point to the neighboring downstream routers that have sent
   Join/Prune  messages  toward  the RP. This forwarding state creates a
   shared,  RP-centered,  distribution  tree  that  reaches  all   group
   members.  When  a data source first sends to a group, its DR unicasts
   Register  messages  to  the  RP  with  the  source's   data   packets
   encapsulated  within.  If  the  data  rate  is  high, the RP can send
   source-specific Join/Prune messages back towards the source  and  the
   source's  data packets will follow the resulting forwarding state and
   travel unencapsulated to the RP. Whether they arrive encapsulated  or
   natively, the RP forwards the source's decapsulated data packets down
   the RP-centered distribution tree toward group members. If  the  data
   rate  warrants  it,  routers  with local receivers can join a source-
   specific, shortest path, distribution tree, and prune these  source's
   packets  off  of  the  shared RP-centered tree. Even if all receivers
   switch to the shortest path tree, state for that source will be  kept
   at  the  RP,  so that new members that join the RP-centered tree will
   receive data packets from the source.  For  low  data  rate  sources,
   neither  the  RP,  nor  last-hop  routers need join a source-specific
   shortest path tree and data packets can be delivered via the  shared,
   RP-tree.

   The following subsections describe SM operation in  more  detail,  in
   particular,  the  control  messages,  and  the  actions they trigger.
   Section  3  describes  protocol  operation   from   an   implementors
   perspective, i.e., the actions performed by a single router.

2.1 Local hosts joining a group

   In order to join a multicast group, G, a host  sends  an  IGMP  Host-
   Membership-Report   message  identifying  the  particular  group.  As
   specified in [4], IGMP Host-Membership-Report messages  are  sent  in
   response  to a directly-connected router's IGMP Host-Membership-Query
   message (see figure 1)   [*] From this point on we refer to  such  a
   host as a receiver, R, (or member) of the group G.



_________________________
[*] All figures used in this section are for  illustra-
tion  and are not intended to be complete. For complete
and detailed protocol action see Section 3 .




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      Fig. 1  Example: how a receiver joins, and sets up shared tree



   When a DR receives an IGMP Host-Membership-Report for a new group, G,
   the  DR  looks up the associated RP. The DR (e.g., router A in figure
   1) creates a wildcard  multicast  forwarding  entry  for  the  group,
   referred to here as a (*,G) entry; if there is no more specific match
   for a particular source, the packet will be  forwarded  according  to
   this entry.

   The RP address is included in a special field in the forwarding entry
   and  is  included  in  periodic  upstream  Join/Prune  messages.  The
   outgoing  interface  is  set  to  that  over  which  the  IGMP  Host-
   Membership-Report  was  received  from  the  new member. The incoming
   interface is set to the interface used to send unicast packets to the
   RP.  The  RPT-bit  flag  associated with this entry is also set to 1,
   indicating that this entry, (*,G), represents  state  on  the  shared
   RP-tree.  Each DR on the RP-tree with directly connected members sets
   a timer for this entry. If the timer expires and the DR  has  neither
   local  members  nor downstream receivers, the (*,G) state is deleted.
   If the DR does have local members, it refreshes the (*,G) entry timer
   each time it gets an IGMP Host-Membership-Report.

2.2 Establishing the RP-rooted shared tree

   Triggered by the (*,G) state, the DR  creates  a  Join/Prune  message
   with  the  RP address in its join list and the the WC-bit and RPT-bit
   set to 1. The prune list is left empty. When the RPT-bit is set to  1
   it  indicates that the join is associated with the shared RP-tree and
   therefore the Join/Prune message is  propagated  along  the  RP-tree.
   When  the  WC-bit  is set to 1 it indicates that the address is an RP
   and the downstream receivers  expect  to  receive  packets  from  all
   sources via this (shared tree) path; WC stands for wildcard
     [*]

   Each upstream router creates  or  updates  its  multicast  forwarding
_________________________
[*] Note that the term RPT-bit is used to refer to both
the  RPT-bit  flags associated with forwarding entries,
and the RPT-bit included in each encoded address  in  a
Join/Prune message.




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   entry for (*,G) when it receives a Join/Prune with  the  RPT-bit  and
   WC-bit  set. The interface on which the Join/Prune message arrived is
   added to the list of outgoing interfaces (oifs) for (*,G).  Based  on
   this entry each upstream router between the receiver and the RP sends
   a Join/Prune message in which the join  list  includes  the  RP.  The
   packet  payload contains Multicast-Address=G, Join=RP,WC-bit,RPT-bit,
   Prune=NULL.



2.3 Hosts sending to a group

   When a host  starts  sending  multicast  data  packets  to  a  group,
   initially  its DR must deliver each packet to the RP for distribution
   down  the  RP-tree  (see  figure  2).  The  sender's   DR   initially
   encapsulates  each  data packet in a Register message and unicasts it
   to the RP for that group. The RP decapsulates each  Register  message
   and  forwards the enclosed data packet natively to downstream members
   on the shared RP-tree.





                Fig. 2  Example: a host sending to a group



   If the data rate of the source warrants  [*]

   the use of a source-specific shortest path tree  (SPT),  the  RP  may
   construct  a  new  multicast forwarding entry that is specific to the
   source, hereafter referred to  as  (S,G)  state,  and  send  periodic
   Join/Prune messages toward the source. The routers between the source
   and the RP build and  maintain  (S,G)  state  in  response  to  these
   messages and send (S,G) messages upstream toward the source.

   The source's DR must stop encapsulating  data  packets  in  Registers
   when (and so long as) it receives Register-Stop messages from the RP.
   The RP triggers Register-Stop messages in response to  Registers,  if
   the  RP  has  no  downstream  receivers  for  the  group (or for that
   particular source), or if the RP has already joined  the  (S,G)  tree
_________________________
[*] This decision is a local policy established at  the
RP.  For example, when the Register rate exceeds a con-
figured threshold at the RP, this may warrant  the  use
of the SPT.




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   and  is  receiving  the  data  packets  natively.  Each  source's  DR
   maintains,  per  (S,G),  a Register-bit and a Register-bit timer. The
   Register-bit timer is started  by  the  Register-Stop  message;  upon
   expiration,  the Register-bit is set to 1 and the source's DR resumes
   sending data packets encapsulated in Register messages.

2.4 Switching from shared tree (RP-tree)  to  shortest  path  tree  (SP-
   tree)

   When a router has directly-connected  members,  it  first  joins  the
   shared  RP-tree.  The  router  can switch to a source's shortest path
   tree (SP-tree) after receiving packets  from  that  source  over  the
   shared  RP-tree.  The recommended policy is to initiate the switch to
   the SP-tree after receiving a  significant  number  of  data  packets
   during a specified time interval from a particular source. To realize
   this policy the router can monitor  data  packets  from  sources  for
   which  it  has   no  source-specific  multicast  forwarding entry and
   initiate such an entry when the  data  rate  exceeds  the  configured
   threshold. As shown in figure 3, router `A' initiates a (S,G) state.






     Fig. 3  Example: Switching from shared tree to shortest path tree



   When a (S,G) entry is activated (and  periodically  so  long  as  the
   state  exists),  a  Join/Prune  message  is sent upstream towards the
   source, S, with S in the join list. The payload  contains  Multicast-
   Address=G,  Join=S,  Prune=NULL. When the (S,G) entry is created, the
   outgoing interface list is copied from (*,G), i.e., all local  shared
   tree branches are replicated in the new shortest path  tree   [*]  In
   this way when a data packet from S arrives and matches on this entry,
   all receivers will continue to receive  the  source's  packets  along
   this  path. Note that (S,G) state must be maintained in each last-hop
   router that is responsible for initiating and maintaining an SP-tree.
   [*]
_________________________
[*] In more complicated scenarios, other entries in the
router  have  to be considered. For details see Section 3.
[*] By last-hop router we mean the router that delivers
the packets to their ultimate  end-system  destination.
This  is  the  router  that  monitors if there is group
membership and joins or prunes the appropriate  distri-



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   Even when (*,G) and (S,G) overlap, both states are needed to  trigger
   the source-specific Join/Prune messages. (S,G) state is kept alive by
   data packets arriving from that source. A timer, S-timer, is set  for
   the  (S,G)  entry  and this timer is restarted whenever a data packet
   for (S,G) is forwarded out at least one oif. When the S-timer expires
   the state is deleted.

   Only the RP and routers with local members can initiate switching  to
   the  SP-tree;  intermediate  routers  do  not. Consequently, last-hop
   routers create (S,G) state in  response  to  data  packets  from  the
   source,  S;  whereas  intermediate routers only create (S,G) state in
   response to Join/Prune messages from downstream that have  S  in  the
   Join list  [*]

   The (S,G) entry is initialized with the SPT-bit  cleared,  indicating
   that  the  shortest  path  tree  branch from S has not yet been setup
   completely, and the router can  still  accept  packets  from  S  that
   arrive on the (*,G) entry's indicated incoming interface (iif).  [*]


   When a router with a (S,G) entry and  a  cleared  SPT-bit  starts  to
   receive packets from the new source S on the iif for the (S,G) entry,
   and that iif differs from the (*,G) entry's iif, the router sets  the
   SPT-bit,  and  sends  a Join/Prune message towards the RP, indicating
   that the router no longer wants to receive packets  from  S  via  the
   shared RP-tree. The Join/Prune message sent towards the RP includes S
   in the prune list, with the RPT-bit set indicating that  S's  packets
   should  not  be forwarded down this branch of the shared tree. If the
   router receiving the Join/Prune message  has  (S,G)  state  (with  or
   without  the  forwarding  entry's  RPT-bit  flag set), it deletes the
   arriving interface from the (S,G) oif list. If the  router  has  only
   (*,G)  state, it creates an entry with the RPT-bit flag set to 1. For
   brevity we refer to an (S,G) entry that has the RPT-bit flag set to 1
_________________________
bution  trees  in  response.  In  general  the last-hop
router is the Desgnated Router (DR) for the LAN. Howev-
er,  under various conditions described later, a paral-
lel router connected to the same LAN may take  over  as
the last-hop router in place of the DR.
[*]  For  example, to implement the policy that source-
specific  trees  are  only  setup  for  high-data  rate
source,  a last-hop router might not create a (S,G) en-
try until it has received m  data  packets  from  the
source within some interval of n seconds.
[*]  As  in  DVMRP, each PIM multicast forwarding entry
has an associated incoming interface on  which  packets
are expected to arrive.




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   as an (S,G)RPT-bit entry. This notational distinction  is  useful  to
   point  out the different actions taken for (S,G) entries depending on
   the setting of the RPT-bit flag. Note that a router can have no  more
   than  one  (S,G)  entry for any particular S and G, at any particular
   time; whether the RPT-bit flag is set  or  not.  In  other  words,  a
   router never has both an (S,G) and an (S,G)RPT-bit entry for the same
   S and G at the same time. The  Join/Prune  message  payload  contains
   Multicast-Address=G, Join=NULL, Prune=S,RPT-bit.

   A new receiver may join an existing RP-tree on which  source-specific
   prune  state has been established (e.g., because downstream receivers
   have switched to SP-trees). In this case  the  prune  state  must  be
   eradicated  upstream  of  the new receiver to bring all sources' data
   packets down to the  new  receiver.  Therefore,  when  a  (*,G)  Join
   arrives at a router that has any (Si,G)RPT-bit entries (i.e., entries
   that cause the router to send source-specific prunes toward the  RP),
   these  entries  must be updated upstream of the router so as to bring
   all sources' packets down to the new member. To accomplish this, each
   router  that receives a (*,G) Join/Prune message updates any existing
   (S,G)RPT-bit entries. The  router  may  also  trigger  a  (*,G)  join
   upstream  to cause the same updating of RPT-bit settings upstream and
   pull down all active sources' packets. If the arriving (*,G) join has
   some  sources  included  in  its  prune  list, then the corresponding
   (S,G)RPT-bit entries are left unchanged (i.e.,  the  RPT-bit  remains
   set and no oif is added).


2.5 Steady state maintenance of distribution tree (i.e., router state)

   In the steady state each router sends  periodic  Join/Prune  messages
   for  each  active  PIM  forwarding entry; the Join/Prune messages are
   sent to the neighbor indicated in the iif field of the  corresponding
   entry.  These  messages  are  sent  periodically  to  capture  state,
   topology, and membership changes. A Join/Prune message is  also  sent
   on  an  event-triggered  basis  each  time  a new forwarding entry is
   established for some new source (note that some damping function  may
   be  applied,  e.g.,  a merge time). Join/Prune messages do not elicit
   any form  of  explicit  acknowledgment;  routers  recover  from  lost
   packets using the periodic refresh mechanism.


2.6 Obtaining RP information

   To obtain the RP information, all routers within a PIM domain collect
   RP-Set  messages.  RP-Set  messages  are  sent  hop-by-hop within the
   domain; the  domain's  bootstrap  router  (BSR)  is  responsible  for
   originating  the  RP-set  messages.  The  BSR  is elected dynamically
   within each domain.



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     [*]


   Routers then use the set of  RPs  to  get  the  proper  Group  to  RP
   mapping. Details are as follows:


   A (small)  set  of  routers,  within  a  domain,  are  configured  as
   candidate  bootstrap  routers.  Initially,  each  of these candidates
   includes its address in `RP-set' messages. Through a simple  election
   mechanism, a single bootstrap router (BSR) is elected for that domain
   (see Section  3.6).

   A set of routers within a domain are configured as candidate RPs  (C-
   RPs); typically these will be the same routers that are configured as
   C-BSRs. Candidate RPs periodically unicast Candidate-RP-Advertisement
   messages (C-RP-Advs) to the BSR of that domain. C-RP-Advs include the
   address of the advertising C-RP, as well as an optional group address
   and  a  mask  length field, indicating the group prefix(es) for which
   the candidacy is advertised. The BSR then includes  a  set  of  these
   Candidate-RPs  in  the  RP-Set messages, along with the corresponding
   group prefixes (see Section
    3.6.2). RP-Set messages are periodically sent hop-by-hop  throughout
   the domain.


   Routers receive and store RP-Set messages originated by the BSR. When
   a  DR  receives IGMP Host-Membership-Report (or a data packet) from a
   directly connected host, for a group for which it has no  entry,  the
   DR  uses  a hash function to map the pertinent group to one of the C-
   RPs whose Group-prefix includes the group (see Section  3.7). The  DR
   then  sends  a  Join/Prune message towards (or unicasts Registers to)
   that RP.


   The RP-Set message indicates liveness of the RPs included therein; if
   an  RP  is  included in the message, then it is tagged as `up' at the
   routers, while RPs not included in the message are tagged  as  `down'
   and  removed from the list of RPs over which the hash algorithm acts.
   Each router continues to  use  the  contents  of  the  most  recently
   received RP-set message until it receives a new RP-set message.
_________________________
[*] A domain in this context is  a  contiguous  set  of
routers  that  all  implement PIM and are configured to
operate within a common boundary defined by PIM  Multi-
cast  Border  Routers  (PMBRs).  PMBRs connect each PIM
domain to the rest of the internet.




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2.7 Interoperation with dense mode  protocols such as DVMRP

   In order  to  interoperate  with  networks  that  run  dense-mode,
   broadcast and prune, protocols, such as DVMRP, all packets generated
   within a PIM-SM region must be  pulled  down  to  that  region's  PIM
   Multicast  Border Routers (PMBRs) and injected (i.e., broadcast) into
   the DVMRP network.  [*]

   To achieve this capability, a special  entry  type,  referred  to  as
   (*,*,RP),  must  be  supported by all PIM routers. For this reason we
   include details about (*,*,RP) entry handling  in  this  general  PIM
   specification.

   A data packet will match on a (*,*,RP) entry  if  there  is  no  more
   specific  entry  (such  as  (S,G) or (*,G)) and the destination group
   address in the packet maps to the RP listed in the (*,*,RP) entry. In
   this  sense,  a  (*,*,RP)  entry represents an aggregation of all the
   groups supported by that RP. PMBRs initialize (*,*,RP) state for each
   RP in the domain's RPset. The (*,*,RP) state causes the PMBRs to send
   Join/Prune messages toward each of the active RPs in the domain. As a
   result  distribution  trees  are  built  that  carry all data packets
   originated within the PIM domain (and sent to the RPs)  down  to  the
   PMBRs.

   All PIM routers must be capable  of  supporting  (*,*,RP)  state  and
   interpreting associated Join/Prune messages. We describe the handling
   of (*,*,RP) entries and messages throughout this  document.  However,
   detailed PIM Multicast Border Router functions will be specified in a
   separate interoperability document.


2.8 Multicast data packet processing


   Data packets are processed in a manner similar to existing  multicast
   schemes.  A  router  first performs a longest match on the source and
   group address in the data packet. A (S,G) entry is matched  first  if
   one  exists;  a  (*,G)  entry  is matched otherwise. If neither state
   exists, then a (*,*,RP) entry match  is  attempted  as  follows:  the
   router  hashes  on  G to identify the RP for group G, and looks for a
_________________________
[*] A PMBR is a router that sits at the boundary  of  a
PIM-SM  domain  and  interoperates  with other types of
multicast routers such as those that  run  DVMRP.  Gen-
erally  a PMBR would speak both protocols and implement
interoperability functions not required by regular  PIM
routers.




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   (*,*,RP) entry that has this RP address associated with it.  If  none
   of  the  above  exists,  then  the  packet  is dropped. If a state is
   matched, the router  compares  the  interface  on  which  the  packet
   arrived  to  the  incoming  interface field in the matched forwarding
   entry. If the iif check fails the packet is  dropped,  otherwise  the
   packet  is  forwarded  to  all  interfaces  listed  in  the  outgoing
   interface list.

   Some special actions are needed to deliver packets continuously while
   switching  from the shared to shortest-path tree. In particular, when
   a (S,G) entry is matched, incoming packets are forwarded as follows:


        1    If the SPT-bit is set, then:


             1    if the incoming interface is the same  as  a  matching
                  (S,G)  iif, the packet is forwarded to the oif-list of
                  (S,G).

             2    if the incoming interface is different than a matching
                  (S,G) iif , the packet is discarded.



        2    If the SPT-bit is cleared, then:


             1    if the incoming interface is the same  as  a  matching
                  (S,G)  iif, the packet is forwarded to the oif-list of
                  (S,G). In addition, the SPT bit is set for that  entry
                  if  the  incoming  interface differs from the incoming
                  interface of the (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry.

             2    if the incoming interface is different than a matching
                  (S,G)  iif, the incoming interface is tested against a
                  matching (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry. IF the  iif  is  the
                  same  as  one of those, the packet is forwarded to the
                  oif-list of the matching entry.

             3    Otherwise the iif does not match any entry for  G  and
                  the packet is discarded.



        Data packets never trigger prunes.  However,  data  packets  may
        trigger  actions  that in turn trigger prunes. For example, when
        router  B in figure 3 decides to switch to SP-tree at step 3, it



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        creates  a  (S,G) entry with SPT-bit set to 0. When data packets
        from S arrive at interface 2 of  B,  B sets  the  SPT-bit  to  1
        since  the  iif for (*,G) is different than that for (S,G). This
        triggers the sending of prunes towards the RP.


     2.9 Operation over Multi-access Networks


        This section describes  a  few  additional  protocol  mechanisms
        needed  to  operate  PIM  over multi-access networks: Designated
        Router election, Assert messages to resolve parallel paths,  and
        the  Joiner  bit  to  suppress  redundant  Joins on multi-access
        networks.

     2.9.1 Designated router election

        When there are multiple  routers  connected  to  a  multi-access
        network,  one  of  them  should  be  chosen  to  operate  as the
        designated  router  (DR)  at  any  point  in  time.  The  DR  is
        responsible   for  sending  triggered  Join/Prune  and  Register
        messages toward the RP  [*]

        A simple designated router (DR) election mechanism is  used  for
        both SM and traditional IP multicast routing.

        Neighboring routers send  Query  messages  to  each  other.  The
        sender  with the largest IP address assumes the role of DR. Each
        router connected to  the  multi-access  LAN  sends  the  Queries
        periodically in order to adapt to changes in router status.


     2.9.2 Parallel paths to a source or the RP--Assert process

        If a router receives a multicast datagram on a multi-access  LAN
        from  a source whose corresponding (S,G) outgoing interface list
        includes the interface  to  that  LAN,  the  packet  must  be  a
        duplicate.  In  this  case  a  single forwarder must be elected.
        Using Assert messages addressed to `224.0.0.13' (ALL-PIM-ROUTERS
        group)  on  the LAN, upstream routers can resolve which one will
        act as the forwarder. Downstream routers listen to  the  Asserts
        so  they know which one was elected, and therefore where to send
_________________________
[*] IGMP Queries are sent by a PIMv2 DR if it  supports
IGMPv1.  If  a  PIMv2  router is using IGMPv2 then Host
queries are not sent by the PIMv2 DR but  by  the  IGMP
querier.




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        subsequent Joins. Typically this is the same as  the  downstream
        router's  RPF  (Reverse Path Forwarding) neighbor; but there are
        circumstances where this might not be the case, e.g., when using
        different unicast protocols.  [*]


        The upstream router elected is the one  that  has  the  shortest
        distance  to the source. Therefore, when a packet is received on
        an outgoing interface a router sends an Assert  message  on  the
        multi-access  LAN  indicating  what  metric it uses to reach the
        source  of  the  data  packet.  The  router  with  the  smallest
        numerical  metric  (with  ties  broken  by highest address) will
        become the forwarder. All other upstream routers will delete the
        interface  from  their  outgoing  interface list. The downstream
        routers  also  do  the  comparison  in  case  the  forwarder  is
        different than the RPF neighbor.

        Associated with the metric is a metric preference value. This is
        provided  to  deal  with the case where the upstream routers may
        run different unicast routing protocols. The numerically smaller
        metric  preference  is  always  preferred. The metric preference
        should be treated as the high-order part  of  an  assert  metric
        comparison.  Therefore,  a  metric  value  can  be compared with
        another metric value provided both metric  preferences  are  the
        same.  A  metric  preference can be assigned per unicast routing
        protocol and needs to be  consistent  for  all  routers  on  the
        multi-access network.

        Asserts are also needed for (*,G) entries  since  there  may  be
        parallel  paths  from  the  RP  and  sources  to  a multi-access
        network. When an assert is sent for a (*,G) entry, the first bit
        in  the  metric  preference  (RPT-bit)  is  always  set  to 1 to
        indicate that this path corresponds to the RP tree, and that the
        match  should  be  done  on (*,G) if it exists. Furthermore, the
        RPT-bit is always cleared for metric preferences that  refer  to
        SP-tree  entries;  this  causes  an  SP-tree path to always look
        better than an RP-tree path. When the SP-tree and  RPtree  cross
        the  same  LAN,  this  mechanism  eliminates the duplicates that
        would otherwise be carried over the LAN.

        In case the packet, or the Assert message, matches  on  oif  for
_________________________
[*] The RPF neighbor for a particular source (or RP) is
the  next-hop  router to which packets are forwarded en
route to that source (or RP);  and  therefore  is  con-
sidered  a  good  path via which to accept packets from
that source.




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        (*,*,RP) entry, a (*,G) entry is created, and asserts take place
        as if the matching state were (*,G).

        The DR may lose the (*,G) Assert process to  another  router  on
        the  LAN  if there are multiple paths to the RP through the LAN.
        From then on, the DR is no longer the last-hop router for  local
        receivers  and  removes  the  LAN  from  its (*,G) oif list. The
        winning router becomes the last-hop router  and  is  responsible
        for  sending  (*,G)  join  messages  to the RP. Asserts are rate
        limited.

     2.9.3 Join/Prune suppression

        If a Join/Prune message arrives  and  matches  on  the  incoming
        interface  for  an existing (S,G), (*,G), or (*,*,RP) entry, and
        the sender of the Join/Prune has a higher IP  address  than  the
        recipient  of  the  message,  the  Joiner-bit in the recipient's
        multicast routing table entry is  cleared  to  suppress  further
        Join/Prune messages. A timer is set for the Joiner-bit; after it
        expires the recipient sets  the  Joiner-bit  to  resume  further
        periodic  Join/Prunes  for  this  entry. The Joiner-bit timer is
        restarted each time a Join/Prune  message  is  received  from  a
        higher-IP-addressed PIM neighbor.


     2.10 Unicast Routing Changes

        When unicast routing changes, an RPF check is done on all active
        (S,G),  (*,G)  and  (*,*,RP)  entries, and all affected expected
        incoming interfaces are  updated.  In  particular,  if  the  new
        incoming interface appears in the outgoing interface list, it is
        deleted from the outgoing interface list. The previous  incoming
        interface  may  be  added  to  the  outgoing interface list by a
        subsequent  Join/Prune  from  downstream.  Join/Prune   messages
        received   on   the  current  incoming  interface  are  ignored.
        Join/Prune messages  received  on  new  interfaces  or  existing
        outgoing  interfaces  are not ignored. Other outgoing interfaces
        are left as is until they are explicitly  pruned  by  downstream
        routers  or  are timed out due to lack of appropriate Join/Prune
        messages. If the router has a (S,G) entry with the SPT-bit  set,
        and  the  updated  iif(S,G)  does   not  differ from iif(*,G) or
        iif(*,*,RP), then the router resets the SPT-bit.

        The router must send a Join/Prune message with  S  in  the  Join
        list  out  its new incoming interface to inform upstream routers
        that it expects multicast datagrams over the interface.  It  may
        also  send a Join/Prune message with S in the Prune list out the
        old incoming interface, if the link is  operational,  to  inform



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        upstream  routers  that  this  part  of the distribution tree is
        going away.


     2.11 PIM-SM for Inter-Domain Multicast


        Future documents will address the use of PIM-SM  as  a  backbone
        inter-domain  multicast  routing protocol. Design choices center
        primarily around the distribution and usage  of  RP  information
        for wide area, inter-domain groups.

     2.12 Security

        All PIM  control  messages  may  use  [5]  to  address  security
        concerns.  Security  mechanisms are likely to be enhanced in the
        near future.


































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     3 Detailed Protocol Description


        This  section  describes  the  protocol  operations   from   the
        perspective   of   an   individual   router  implementation.  In
        particular,  for  each  message  type  we  describe  how  it  is
        generated and processed.

     3.1 Query

        Query messages are sent so neighboring routers can discover each
        other.

     3.1.1 Sending Queries

        Query messages are sent periodically between PIM  neighbors.  By
        default  they  are  transmitted  every  30 seconds. This informs
        routers what interfaces have PIM neighbors. Query  messages  are
        multicast  using address 224.0.0.13 (ALL-PIM-ROUTERS group). The
        packet  includes  the  holdtime  for  neighbors  to   keep   the
        information valid. The recommended holdtime is 3 times the query
        transmission interval. By default the holdtime  is  90  seconds.
        Queries are sent on all types of communication links.


     3.1.2 Receiving queries

        When a router receives a Query packet, it stores the IP  address
        for  that  neighbor,  sets  the  PIM neighbor timer based on the
        Query holdtime, and determines the Designated  Router  (DR)  for
        that  interface.  The highest IP addressed system is elected DR.
        Each query received causes the DR's address to be updated.

        When a router that is the active DR receives a query from a  new
        neighbor  (i.e.,  from  an IP address that is not yet in the DRs
        neighbor  table),  the  DR  unicasts  its  most  recent   RP-set
        information to the new neighbor.



     3.1.3 Timing out neighbor entries

        A periodic process is run to time out PIM  neighbors  that  have
        not sent queries. If the DR has gone down, a new DR is chosen by
        scanning all neighbors on the interface and selecting the new DR
        to  be  the one with the highest IP address. If an interface has
        gone down, the router may optionally time out all PIM  neighbors
        associated with the interface.



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     3.2 Join/Prune

        Join/Prune messages are sent to join or prune a  branch  off  of
        the  multicast distribution tree. A single message contains both
        a join and prune list, either one of which  may  be  null.  Each
        list  contains a set of source addresses, indicating the source-
        specific trees or shared tree that the router wants to  join  or
        prune.

     3.2.1 Sending Join/Prune Messages


        Join/Prune messages are merged such that a  message  sent  to  a
        particular  upstream  neighbor,  N,  includes all of the current
        joined and pruned sources that are reached via N;  according  to
        unicast routing Join/Prune messages are multicast to all routers
        on multi-access networks with the target address set to the next
        hop  router  towards  S  or  RP.  Join/Prune  messages  are sent
        periodically. Currently the period is set to 60 seconds.  [*]

        In addition, certain events cause triggered Join/Prune  messages
        to be sent.

        3.2.1.1 Periodic Join/Prune Messages

        A  router  sends  a periodic Join/Prune message to each distinct
        RPF neighbor associated with  each  (S,G),  (*,G)  and  (*,*,RP)
        entry.  Join/Prune messages are only sent if the RPF neighbor is
        a  PIM  neighbor.  A  periodic  Join/Prune  message  sent  to  a
        particular RPF neighbor is constructed as follows:



        1     Each router determines the RP for a (*,G) entry  by  using
             the hash function described. The RP address (with RP and WC
             bits set) is included  in  the  join  list  of  a  periodic
             Join/Prune message under the following conditions:


             1    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF
                  neighbor toward the RP for an active (*,G) or (*,*,RP)
                  entry, and

_________________________
[*] In the  future  we  will  introduce  mechanisms  to
rate-limit  this control traffic on a hop by hop basis,
in order to avoid excessive overhead on small links.




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             2    The outgoing interface list in the (*,G)  or  (*,*,RP)
                  entry is non-NULL, or the router is the DR on the same
                  interface as the RPF neighbor.





        2    A particular source address, S, is  included  in  the  join
             list  with  the  RP and WC bits cleared under the following
             conditions:


             1    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF
                  neighbor toward S, and

             2    There exists an active (S,G) entry  with  the  RPT-bit
                  flag cleared, and

             3    The oif list in the (S,G) entry is not null.



        3    A particular source address, S, is included  in  the  prune
             list  with  the  RP and WC bits cleared under the following
             conditions:


             1    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF
                  neighbor toward S, and

             2    There exists an active (S,G) entry  with  the  RPT-bit
                  flag cleared, and

             3    The oif list in the (S,G) entry is null.



        4    A particular source address, S, is included  in  the  prune
             list with the RPT-bit  set and the WC bit cleared under the
             following conditions:


             1    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF
                  neighbor  toward the RP and there exists a (S,G) entry
                  with the RPT-bit flag set and null oif list, or

             2    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF



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                  neighbor  toward  the  RP,  there exists a (S,G) entry
                  with the RPT-bit flag cleared and SPT-bit set, and the
                  incoming  interface  toward  S  is  different than the
                  incoming interface toward the RP, or

             3    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF
                  neighbor toward the RP, and there exists a (*,G) entry
                  and (S,G) entry for a directly connected source.



        5    The RP address (with RP and WC bits set) is included in the
             prune list if:



             1    The Join/Prune  message  is  being  sent  to  the  RPF
                  neighbor  toward the RP and there exists a (*,G) entry
                  with a null oif list (see Section  3.5.2).



        3.2.1.2 Triggered Join/Prune Messages

        In  addition  to  periodic  messages,  the following events will
        trigger Join/Prune messages (the contents of triggered  messages
        are the same as the periodic, described above):


        1    Receipt of an IGMP  Host-Membership-Report  message  for  a
             group  G  will  cause  building  or modifying corresponding
             (*,G)  state,  and  subsequent   triggering   of   upstream
             Join/Prune messages as follows:


             1    If the receiving router does  not  have  a  forwarding
                  entry for G the router creates a (*,G) entry, with the
                  interface upon which the  IGMP  Host-Membership-Report
                  was  received  included  in  the  oif list. The router
                  sends a Join/Prune message towards the RP with the  RP
                  address  and RPT-bit and WC-bits set in the join list.
                  A timer is initiated for each  interface  in  the  oif
                  list. Or,

             2    If the (*,G) already exists, the interface upon  which
                  the  IGMP Host-Membership-Report was received is added
                  to the oif list (if it was not included  already)  and
                  the timer for that interface is restarted.



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        2    Receipt  of  a  Join/Prune  message  for  (S,G),  (*,G)  or
             (*,*,RP)  will  cause  building  or modifying corresponding
             state, and subsequent  triggering  of  upstream  Join/Prune
             messages, in the following cases:


             1    When there is no  current  forwarding  entry,  the  RP
                  address  included in the Join/Prune message is checked
                  against the local RP-Set information. If  it  matches,
                  an  entry will be created. If the router has no RP-Set
                  information it may discard the message, or  optionally
                  use the RP address included in the message.

                  The  new  entry  will  in  turn  trigger  an  upstream
                  Join/Prune message.


             2    When the outgoing interface list of (S,G)RPT-bit entry
                  is null, the triggered Join/Prune message will contain
                  S in the prune list.





        3    Receipt of a packet that matches on  a  (S,G)  entry  whose
             SPT-bit  is  cleared  triggers  the following if the packet
             arrived on the correct incoming interface and  there  is  a
             (*,G)  or  (*,*,RP)  entry  with  a  different incoming RPF
             neighbor: a) the router  sets  the  SPT-bit  on  the  (S,G)
             entry,  and  b)  if the iif of the (S,G) entry is different
             from the iif of the local (*,G) or  (*,*,RP)  entries,  the
             router sends a Join/Prune message towards the RP with S and
             a set RPT-bit in the prune list.


        4    When a Join/Prune message is received for a  group  G,  the
             prune  list  is  checked. If it contains a source for which
             the receiving router  has  a  corresponding  active  (S,G),
             (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry, and whose iif is that on which
             the Join/Prune was received, then a join for  (S,G),  (*,G)
             or   (*,*,RP)   is   triggered   to   override  the  prune,
             respectively. (This is necessary in the  case  of  parallel
             downstream routers connected to a multi-access network.)



        5    When the RP fails, the RP will not be included in  the  RP-



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             Set  messages  sent  to  all  routers  in that domain. This
             triggers the DRs to send (*,G) Join/Prune messages  towards
             the  new  RP for the group, as determined by the RP-Set and
             the hash function  [*]


        We do not trigger prunes onto interfaces for SM groups based  on
        data  packets.  Data  packets  that arrive on the wrong incoming
        interface for an SM group are silently dropped.

        3.2.1.3 Fragmentation
        It is possible that a  Join/Prune  message
        constructed  according  to the preceeding rules could exceed the
        MTU of a network. In this case, the message can undergo semantic
        fragmentation  whereby  information  corresponding  to different
        groups  can  be  sent  in  different  messages.  However,  if  a
        Join/Prune  message  must  be fragmented the complete prune list
        corresponding to  a  group  G  must  be  included  in  the  same
        Join/Prune message as the associated RP-tree Join for G.


     3.2.2 Receiving  Join/Prune  Messages  When  a  router  receives  a
        Join/Prune message, it processes it as follows.

        The receiver of the Join/Prune notes the interface on which  the
        PIM  message arrived, call it I. The receiver then checks to see
        if the Join/Prune message was addressed to the receiving  router
        itself  (i.e.,  the  router's  address  appears  in  the Unicast
        Upstream Neighbor Router field of the the Join/Prune message)
          [*] If the Join/Prune is for this router the following actions
        are taken.

        For each Sj in the join list of the Join/Prune message:


        1    If an address, Sj, in  the  join  list  of  the  Join/Prune
             messagehas  the  RPT-bit  and WC-bit set, then Sj is the RP
             address used by the downstream router(s) and the  following
             actions are taken:


             1    If Sj is not the same as  the  receiving  router's  RP
                  mapping  for  G,  the  receiving router may ignore the
_________________________
[*] As described earlier, PMBRs trigger (*,*,RP)  joins
towards each RP in the RP-Set.
[*] If the router is connected to  a  multiaccess  LAN,
the message could be intended for a different router.




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                  Join/Prune message with respect to that  group  entry.
                  If the router does not have any RP-Set information, it
                  may use the address  Sj  included  in  the  Join/Prune
                  message as the RP for the group.

             2    If Sj is the same as the receiving router's RP mapping
                  for  G,  the  receiving  router adds I to the outgoing
                  interface list of the (*,G) forwarding entry and  sets
                  the  timer  for  that  interface (if there is no (*,G)
                  entry, the router creates one first).  If  a  (*,*,RP)
                  entry  exists,  for the RP associated with G, then the
                  oif list of the newly created (*,G)  entry  is  copied
                  from that (*,*,RP) entry.


             3    For each (Si,G) entry associated with group G,  if  Si
                  is not included in the prune list, and if I is not the
                  iif then interface I is added to the oif list  and
                  the  timers  are  restarted for that interface in each
                  affected entry. If the group address in the Join/Prune
                  message is `*' then every (*,G) and (S,G) entry, whose
                  group address  hashes  to  the  RP  indicated  in  the
                  (*,*,RP)  Join/Prune  message,  is updated accordingly
                  [*]


             4    If the (Si,G) entry has its RPT-bit flag set to 1, and
                  its  oif  list  is  the same as the (*,G) oif
                  list, then the (Si,G)RPT-bit entry is deleted,


             5    The incoming interface is set to the interface used to
                  send unicast packets to the RP in the (*,G) forwarding
                  entry, i.e., RPF interface toward the RP.





        2    For each address, Sj, in the join list  whose  RPT-bit  and
             WC-bit  are   not  set,  and for which there is no existing
             (Sj,G) forwarding entry, the router initiates one.
               [*]
_________________________
[*] A `*' in the  group  field  of  the  Join/Prune  is
represented  by  a  group address 224.0.0.0 and a group
mask length of 4, indicating a (*,*,RP) Join.
[*] The router creates a (S,G)  entry  and  copies  all



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             1    The outgoing interface for (Sj,G) is  set  to  I.  The
                  incoming  interface for (Sj,G) is set to the interface
                  used to send unicast packets  to  Sj  (i.e.,  the  RPF
                  neighbor).


             2    If the interface, I, used to reach Sj, is the same  as
                  the   outgoing   interface   being  initialized,  this
                  represents an error (or a unicast routing change)  and
                  the Join/Prune should not be processed.




        3    For each address, Sj, in the join list  of  the  Join/Prune
             message,  for  which there is an existing (Sj,G) forwarding
             entry,



             1    If the RPT-bit  is  not  set  for  Sj  listed  in  the
                  Join/Prune message, but the RPT-bit flag is set on the
                  existing (Sj,G) entry, the router clears  the  RPT-bit
                  flag  on the (Sj,G) entry, sets the incoming interface
                  to point towards Sj for that (Sj,G) entry, and sends a
                  Join/Prune message corresponding to that entry through
                  the new incoming interface; and


             2    If  I  is  not  the  same  as  the  existing  incoming
                  interface,  the  router adds I to the list of outgoing
                  interfaces.


             3    The timer for I is restarted.


             4    The (Sj,G) entry's SPT bit is cleared until data comes
                  down the shortest path tree.

_________________________
outgoing  interfaces from the (S,G)RPT-bit entry, if it
exists. If there is no (S,G) entry,  the  oif  list  is
copied  from  the (*,G) entry; and if there is no (*,G)
entry, the oif list is copied from the (*,*,RP)  entry,
if  it exists. In all cases, the iif of the (S,G) entry
is always excluded from the oif list.




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        For each Sp in the prune list of the Join/Prune message:


        1    For each address, Sp, in the prune list whose  RPT-bit  and
             WC-bit are cleared:


             1    If there is an existing (Sp,G) forwarding  entry,  the
                  router  schedules  a  deletion  of  I from the list of
                  outgoing interfaces by lowering that oif  timer  to  5
                  seconds  (unless it is already lower). The deletion is
                  not executed until this timer  expires,  allowing  for
                  other  downstream  routers  on  a  multi-access LAN to
                  override the prune.


             2    If the  router  has  a  current  (*,G),  or  (*,*,RP),
                  forwarding entry, and if the existing (Sp,G) entry has
                  its RPT-bit flag set to  1,  then  this  (Sp,G)RPT-bit
                  entry is maintained (not deleted) even if its outgoing
                  interface list is null.




        2    For each address, Sp, in the prune list  whose  RPT-bit  is
             set and whose WC-bit cleared:


             1    If there is an existing (Sp,G) forwarding  entry,  the
                  router  schedules  a  deletion  of  I from the list of
                  outgoing interfaces by lowering that oif  timer  to  5
                  seconds  (unless it is already lower). The deletion is
                  not executed until this timer  expires,  allowing  for
                  other  downstream  routers  on  a  multi-access LAN to
                  override the prune.


             2    If the  router  has  a  current  (*,G),  or  (*,*,RP),
                  forwarding entry, and if the existing (Sp,G) entry has
                  its RPT-bit flag set to  1,  then  this  (Sp,G)RPT-bit
                  entry is maintained (not deleted) even if its outgoing
                  interface list is null.


             3    If (*,G), or corresponding (*,*,RP), state exists, but
                  there  is  no  (Sp,G) entry, an (Sp,G)RPT-bit entry is
                  created . The outgoing interface list is  copied  from



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                  the  (*,G), or (*,*,RP), entry, with the interface, I,
                  on which the prune was received, is  deleted.  Packets
                  from  the  pruned  source, Sp, match on this state and
                  are not forwarded toward the pruned receivers.


             4    If there exists a (Sp,G) entry, with  or  without  the
                  RPT-bit  set, the iif on which the prune was received,
                  I, is deleted from the oif  list,  and  the  entry
                  timer is restarted.




        3    For each address, Sp, in the prune list whose  RPT-bit  and
             WC-bit are both set:



             1    If there is an existing (*,G) entry, with Sp as the RP
                  for  G,  the router schedules a deletion of I from the
                  list of outgoing interfaces by lowering that oif timer
                  to  5  seconds  (unless  it  is  already  lower).  The
                  deletion is not executed  until  this  timer  expires,
                  allowing  for  other  downstream  routers  on a multi-
                  access LAN to override the prune.


             2    If the corresponding (*,*,RP) state exists, but  there
                  is  no  (*,G)  entry,  a  (*,G)  entry is created. The
                  outgoing interface list is copied from (*,*,RP) entry,
                  with   the  interface,  I,  on  which  the  prune  was
                  received, deleted.


             3    If there exists a (*,G) entry, the interface on  which
                  the prune was received, I, is deleted from the oif
                  list, and the entry timer is restarted.


             For any new (S,G), (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry  created  by  an
             incoming  Join/Prune message, the Joiner-bit is initialized
             to 1 and the SPT-bit is cleared.



        If the received Join/Prune does not indicate the router  as  its
        target, then if the Join/Prune matches an existing (S,G), (*,G),



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        or (*,*,RP) entry and the Join/Prune arrived on the iif  for
        that  entry,  then  the  router  compares  the IP address of the
        generator of the Join/Prune, to its own IP address and sets  the
        Joiner-bit as follows.


        1    If its own IP address is  higher,  the  Joiner-bit  in  the
             entry is set.

        2    If its own IP address is lower, the Joiner-bit in the entry
             is cleared, and the Joiner-bit timer is activated.

        After the timer expires the Joiner-bit is set indicating further
        periodic  Join/Prunes should be sent for this entry. The Joiner-
        bit timer  is  restarted  each  time  a  Join/Prune  message  is
        received from a higher-IP-addressed PIM neighbor.



     3.3 Register and Register-Stop

        When a source first starts sending to a group  its  packets  are
        encapsulated  in  Register  messages  and sent to the RP. If the
        data rate warrants source-specific paths, the RP sets up  source
        specific  state  and  starts  sending  (S,G) Join/Prune messages
        toward the source, with S in the join list.



     3.3.1 Sending Registers and Receiving Register-Stops

        Register messages are sent as follows:



        1    When a DR receives  a  packet  from  a  directly  connected
             source, S  [*] :


             1    If there is no  corresponding  (S,G)  entry,  and  the
_________________________
[*] When a PMBR (e.g., a router that connects the  PIM-
SM  region to a dense mode region running DVMRP or PIM-
DM) receives a packet from a source in the  dense  mode
region, the router treats the packet as if it were from
a directly connected source. A separate  document  will
describe the details of interoperabiity.




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                  router has RP-Set information, the DR creates one with
                  the  Register-bit  set  to  1  and  the RP address set
                  according  to  the  hash  function  mapping  for   the
                  corresponding   group.   The   Register-bit-timer   is
                  initialized to zero; the  Register-bit-timer  is  non-
                  zero only when the Register-bit is set to 0.



             2    If there is a (S,G) entry in existence, the DR  simply
                  restarts the corresponding S-timer (entry timer).




        2    If the new  or  previously-existing  (S,G)  entry  has  the
             Register-bit  set,  the  data  packet  is encapsulated in a
             Register message and unicast to the RP for that group.  The
             data  packet  is also forwarded according to (S,G) state in
             the DR if the oif list is not null; since  a  receiver  may
             join  the  SP-tree while the DR is still registering to the
             RP.



        3    If the (S,G) entry has the Register-bit cleared,  the  data
             packet  is  not  sent  in  a  Register  message, it is just
             forwarded according to the (S,G) oif list.



        When the DR receives  a  Register-Stop  message  it  clears  the
        Register-bit   and   restarts   the  Register-bit-timer  in  the
        corresponding (S,G) entry(ies).

        When a Register-bit-timer expires, the corresponding  entry(ies)
        Register-bit  is  set  to 1 to reinstigate encapsulation of data
        packets in Register messages.

     3.3.2 Receiving Register Messages and Sending Register-Stops

        When a router (i.e., the RP) receives a  Register  message,  the
        router does the following:



        1    Decapsulates  the   data   packet,   and   checks   for   a
             corresponding (S,G) entry.



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             1    If a (S,G) entry exists, the packet is  forwarded  but
                  the  SPT bit is left cleared (0). If the SPT bit is 1,
                  the packet is dropped, and Register-Stop messages  are
                  triggered. Register-Stops are rate limited.  [*]




             2    If there is no (S,G)  entry,  but  there  is  a  (*,G)
                  entry,  or  a (*,*,RP) entry with the RP corresponding
                  to G, the packet is forwarded according to that entry.


             3    If there is a (*,*,RP) entry but  no  (*,G)  entry,  a
                  (*,G)  or (S,G) entry is created and the oif is copied
                  from the (*,*,RP) entry to the new entry.

             4    If there is no G or (*,*,RP) entry corresponding to G,
                  the   packet   is  dropped,  and  a  Register-Stop  is
                  triggered.


             5    A ``Border bit'' bit is added to the Register message,
                  to  facilitate  interoperability mechanisms. PMBRs set
                  this bit when registering for  external  sources  (see
                  Section   2.7).  If  the  ``Border bit'' is set in the
                  Register, the RP does the following:



                  1    If there is  no  matching  (S,G)  state,  the  RP
                       creates  one,  with  a  `PMBR'  field. This field
                       holds the source of the Register (i.e. the  outer
                       IP  address  of  the  register  packet).  The  RP
                       triggers a (S,G) join towards the source  of  the
                       data packet, and clears the SPT bit for the (S,G)
                       entry, else


_________________________
[*] Register-Stops should be rate limited  so  that  no
more  than  a  few  are  sent per round trip time. This
prevents  a  high  datarate  stream  of  packets   from
triggering  a  large  number  of Register-stop messages
between the time that the first packet is received  and
the  time  when the source receives the first Register-
Stop.




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                  2    If the `PMBR' field for the  corresponding  (S,G)
                       entry  matches the source of the Register packet,
                       the decapsulated packet is forwarded to  the  oif
                       list of that entry, else


                  3    The packet is dropped,  and  a  Register-stop  is
                       triggered towards the source of the Register.




             The (S,G) state timer is restarted  by  Registers  arriving
             from that source to that group.


        2    If the matching (S,G) or (*,G) state contains  a  null  oif
             list, the RP unicasts a Register-Stop message to the source
             of the Register message; in the latter  case,  the  source-
             address  field, within the Register-Stop message, is set to
             the wildcard value (all 0's). This message is not processed
             by   intermediate   routers,   hence   no  (S,G)  state  is
             constructed between the RP and the source.


        3    If the Register message arrival rate warrants it and  there
             is  no  existing  (S,G)  entry,  the  RP  sets  up  a (S,G)
             forwarding  entry  with  the   outgoing   interface   list,
             excluding   iif(S,G),   copied   from  the  (*,G)  outgoing
             interface list, its SPT-bit is initialized to 0. If a (*,G)
             entry  does  not  exist,  but there exists a (*,*,RP) entry
             with the RP corresponding to G , the oif list for (S,G)  is
             copied -excluding the iif- from that (*,*,RP) entry.

             A timer is set for  the  (S,G)  entry  and  this  timer  is
             restarted  by  receipt of data packets for (S,G). The (S,G)
             entry causes the RP to send a Join/Prune  message  for  the
             indicated group towards the source of the register message.

             If the (S,G) oif list  becomes  null,  Join/Prune  messages
             will not be sent towards the source, S.



     3.4 Multicast Data Packet Forwarding

        Processing a multicast data packet involves the following steps:




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        1    Lookup forwarding state based on a  longest  match  of  the
             source  address,  and  an  exact  match  of the destination
             address in the data packet. If neither S,  nor  G,  find  a
             longest   match   entry,   and  the  RP  for  the  packet's
             destination group  address  has  a  corresponding  (*,*,RP)
             entry,  then  the  longest  match does not require an exact
             match on the destination group  address.  In  summary,  the
             longest  match  is  performed  in  the following order: (1)
             (S,G), (2) (*,G). If neither is matched, then a  lookup  is
             performed on (*,*,RP) entries.



        2    If the  packet  arrived  on  the  interface  found  in  the
             matching-entry's iif field, and the oif list is not
             null:


             1    Forward the packet to the oif list for that  entry
                  and  restarted the entry's timer if the matching entry
                  is (S,G)  [*]




             2    If the entry is a (S,G) entry with a cleared  SPT-bit,
                  and  a  (*,G) or associated (*,*,RP) also exists whose
                  incoming interface is different than that  for  (S,G),
                  set  the  SPT-bit  for  the (S,G) entry and trigger an
                  (S,G) RPT-bit prune towards the RP.


             3    If the source of the packet  is  a  directly-connected
                  host  and  the  router  is  the  DR  on a multi-access
                  network, check the Register-bit  associated  with  the
                  (S,G)   entry.   If   it   is  set,  then  the  router
                  encapsulates the data packet in a register message and
                  sends it to the RP.


             This covers the common case of a packet arriving on the RPF
             interface  to  the  source or RP and being forwarded to all
             joined branches. It also detects when packets arrive on the
             SP-tree, and triggers their pruning from the RP-tree. If it
_________________________
[*] Optionally, the (S,G) timer  may  be  restarted  by
periodic checking of the matching packet count.




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             is  the  DR  for  the  source,  it   sends   data   packets
             encapsulated in Registers to the RPs.


        3    If the packet matches to an entry but did not arrive on the
             interface  found  in  the  entry's iif field, check the
             SPT-bit of the entry. If  the  SPT-bit  is  set,  drop  the
             packet.  If  the SPT-bit is cleared, then lookup the (*,G),
             or (*,*,RP), entry for G. If the packet arrived  on  the
             iif  found  in  (*,G),  or  the  corresponding  (*,*,RP),
             forward the packet to the  oif  list  of  the  matching
             entry. This covers the case when a data packet matches on a
             (S,G)  entry  for  which  the  SP-tree  has  not  yet  been
             completely established upstream.


        4    If the packet does not match to any entry, but  the  source
             of the data packet is a local, directly-connected host, and
             the router is the DR on a multi-access LAN and  has  RP-Set
             information, the DR uses the hash function to determine the
             RP associated with the destination group, G.  The  DR  then
             checks  the  Register-bit  associated with the local sender
             (if there is no such a Register-bit, a new  register  flag,
             associated  with the local sender, is created and set), and
             encapsulates the data packet  in  a  Register  message  and
             unicasts it to the RP.


        5    If the packet does not match to any entry, and it is not  a
             local host or the router is not the DR, drop the packet.




     3.4.1 Data triggered switch to shortest path tree (SP-tree)

        Different criteria can be applied to trigger switching over from
        the  RP-based  shared  tree  to  source-specific,  shortest path
        trees.

        One proposed example is  to  do  so  based  on  data  rate.  For
        example,  when  a  (*,G),  or  corresponding  (*,*,RP), entry is
        created, a data rate counter may be initiated  at  the  last-hop
        routers.  The  counter  is  incremented  with  every data packet
        received for directly connected members of an SM group,  if  the
        longest  match  is  (*,G) or (*,*,RP). If and when the data rate
        for the group exceeds a certain configured threshold  (t1),  the
        router  initiates  `source-specific'  data rate counters for the



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        following data packets. Then, each  counter  for  a  source,  is
        incremented  when  packets  matching  on (*,G), or (*,*,RP), are
        received from that source. If the data rate from the  particular
        source  exceeds  a  configured  threshold (t2), a (S,G) entry is
        created and a Join/Prune message is sent towards the source.  If
        the RPF interface for (S,G) is
         not the same as that for (*,G) -or (*,*,RP), then  the  SPT-bit
        is cleared in the (S,G) entry.

        Other configured rules may  be  enforced  to  cause  or  prevent
        establishment of (S,G) state.





     3.5 Assert

        Asserts are used  to  resolve  which  of  the  parallel  routers
        connected  to  a  multi-access LAN is responsible for forwarding
        packets onto the LAN.

     3.5.1 Sending Asserts

        The following Assert rules are provided when a multicast  packet
        is received on an outgoing multi-access interface of an existing
        (S,G) entry:



        1    Do unicast routing table lookup on source IP  address  from
             data  packet,  and  send  assert on interface for source IP
             address  in  data  packet;  include  metric  preference  of
             routing protocol and metric from routing table lookup.


        2    If route is not found, use metric preference of  0x7fffffff
             and metric 0xffffffff.

        When an assert is sent for a (*,G) entry, the first bit  in  the
        metric preference (the RPT-bit) is set to 1, indicating the data
        packet is routed down the RP-tree.

        Asserts are rate-limited by the router.







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     3.5.2 Receiving Asserts


        When an assert is received the router performs a  longest  match
        on  the  source  and  group  address  in the assert message. The
        router checks the first bit of the metric preference (RPT-bit).


        1    If the RPT-bit is set, the router first  does  a  match  on
             (*,G), or (*,*,RP), entries; if no matching entry is found,
             the router matches (S,G) entries.



        2    If the RPT-bit is not set in the Assert, the  router  first
             does  a  match  on  (S,G)  entries; if no matching entry is
             found, the router matches (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entries.




        3.5.2.1 Receiving Asserts on an entry's outgoing interface


        If  the  interface  that received the Assert message is in the
        oif list of the matched entry,  then  this  assert  should  be
        processed by this router as follows:


        1    If the Assert's RPT-bit is set and the  matching  entry  is
             (*,*,RP), the router creates a (*,G) entry. If the Assert's
             RPT-bit is cleared and the  matching  entry  is  (*,G),  or
             (*,*,RP), the router creates a (S,G)RPT-bit entry.


        2    Compare the metric received in the Assert with the one  the
             router  would  have  advertised  in  an  assert. The metric
             preference should be treated as the high-order part  of  an
             assert  metric  comparison.  If  the value in the assert is
             less than the router's value, delete the interface from the
             entry.  If  the value is the same, compare IP addresses, if
             the routers address is less than the assert sender,  delete
             the interface.


        3    If the router has won the election and there  are  directly
             connected members on the multi-access LAN, the router keeps
             the interface in its outgoing interface list.  It  acts  as



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             the forwarder for the LAN.


        4    If the router won the election but there  are  no  directly
             connected  members  on  the  multi-access  LAN,  the router
             schedules to delete the interface. The LAN might be a  stub
             LAN  with  no  members  (and  no downstream routers). If no
             subsequent Join/Prunes are received, the router deletes the
             interface  from  the  outgoing interface list; otherwise it
             keeps the interface in its outgoing interface and  acts  as
             the forwarder for the LAN.


        The winning router should send out an assert  message  including
        its own metric to that outgoing interface. This will cause other
        routers on the LAN to prune that interface from their forwarding
        entries.

        3.5.2.2 Receiving Asserts on an entry's incoming interface

        If  the  Assert arrived on the incoming interface of an existing
        (S,G), (*,G), or (*,*,RP) entry,  the  Assert  is  processed  as
        follows.  If  the  Assert  message  does  not  match  the entry,
        exactly, it is ignored; i.e, longest-match is not used  in  this
        case. If the Assert message does match exactly, then:


        1    Downstream routers will select the upstream router with the
             smallest  metric  as their RPF neighbor. If two metrics are
             the same, the highest IP address is  chosen  to  break  the
             tie.  [*]




        2    If the downstream routers  have  downstream  members,  they
             must  schedule  a  join  to inform the upstream router that
             packets should be forwarded on  the  multi-access  network.
             This  will  cause  the  upstream  forwarder  to  cancel its
_________________________
[*] This is important so that downstream  routers  send
subsequent  Joins/Prunes  (in SM) to the correct neigh-
bor. An Assert timer is initiated when changing the RPF
neighbor  to  the Assert winner. When the timer expires
the router resets its RPF neighbor according to its un-
icast  routing tables to capture failures of the Assert
winner.




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             scheduled deletion of the interface.

























     3.6 Candidate-RP-Advertisements and RP-Set messages

        Candidate-RP-Advertisements   (C-RP-Advs)   are   periodic   PIM
        messages  unicast  by  those  routers  that  are  configured  as
        Candidate-RPs (C-RPs).

        RP-Set messages are periodic  PIM  messages  originated  by  the
        Bootstrap router (BSR) within a domain, and forwarded hop-by-hop
        to distribute the current RP-set to all routers in that domain.

        The RP-Set messages also support a simple mechanism by which the
        Candidate  BSR  (C-BSR)  with  the  highest  BSR-priority and IP
        address (referred to as the preferred BSR) is elected as the BSR
        for the domain  [*] Sections   3.6.2  and   3.6.3  describe  the
        combined  function  of  RP-Set  messages  as the vehicle for BSR
        election and RP-Set distribution.


_________________________
[*] We recommend that each router configured as a  C-RP
also be configured as a C-BSR.




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     3.6.1 Sending Candidate-RP-Advertisements

        C-RPs periodically unicast C-RP-Advs to the BSR for that domain.
        The  interval  for  sending  these  messages is subject to local
        configuration at the C-RP. A recommended  default  value  is  60
        seconds.

        Candidate-RP-Advertisements carry group address and  group  mask
        fields.  This  enables  the  advertising  router  to  limit  the
        advertisement to certain  prefixes  or  scopes  of  groups.  The
        advertising  router  may  enforce  this  scope  acceptance  when
        receiving Registers or Join/Prune messages.

     3.6.2 Receiving C-RP-Advs and Originating RP-Set

        Upon receiving a C-RP-Adv, a router does the following:


        1    If the router is  not  the  elected  BSR,  it  ignores  the
             message, else


        2    The BSR adds the RP address to its local pool of  candidate
             RPs,  according  to  the associated group prefix(es) in the
             C-RP-Adv message  [*]  The  BSR  may  override  the  prefix
             indicated in a C-RP-Adv.


        The BSR keeps an RP-timer per RP in its local  RP-set.  The  RP-
        timer  is initialized to the holdtime in the RP's C-RP-Adv. When
        the timer expires, the corresponding RP is removed from the  RP-
        set.  The  RP-timer  is  restarted  by  the  C-RP-Advs  from the
        corresponding RP.

        The BSR also keeps an  RP-Set  timer  to  send  RP-Set  messages
        periodically.  In particular, when the RP-Set timer expires, the
        BSR originates an RP-Set message on each of its PIM  interfaces.
        The  message  is  sent  with a TTL of 1 to the `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS'
        group. In steady state, the BSR originates RP-Set messages every
        60  seconds.  At startup, the RP-Set timer is initialized to 180
        seconds, causing the first RP-Set message to be originated after
        180  seconds,  when/if  the timer expires. For timer details see
        Section  3.6.3. A DR unicasts  an  RP-Set  message  to  new  PIM
        neighbors  starting  up,  after  receiving their Query messages.
_________________________
[*] The BSR may apply  a  local  policy  to  limit  the
number of Candidate RPs included in the RP-Set message.




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        (since after DR election the new neighbor  may  become  the  new
        DR.)

        The RP-Set message is subdivided into sets  of  group-prefix,RP-
        Count,RP-addresses.  The  format  of  the  RP-Set message allows
        `semantic fragmentation', if the length of the  original  RP-Set
        message  exceeds the packet maximum boundaries (see Section  4).
        However, we recommend against  configuring  a  large  number  of
        routers as C-RPs, to reduce the semantic fragmentation required.

     3.6.3 Receiving and Forwarding RP-Set

        Each router keeps an RP-Set timer, initialized to 180 seconds at
        startup.

        When a router receives RP-Set message sent to  `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS'
        group, it performs the following:


        1    If the message was not sent by the RPF neighbor towards the
             BSR address included, the message is dropped. Else


        2    If the included BSR is  not preferred over, and  not  equal
             to, the currently active BSR:


             1    If the RP-Set timer is  not yet  expired,  or  if  the
                  receiving  router  is a C-BSR, then the RP-Set message
                  is dropped. Else

             2    The RP-Set timer  has expired and the receiving router
                  is  not  a  C-BSR,  so the receiving router stores the
                  RP-Set and BSR  address  and  priority  found  in  the
                  message,  and  restarts  the  timer  with  its maximum
                  value. The RP-Set message is then  forwarded  out  all
                  PIM  interfaces,  excluding  the  one  over  which the
                  message arrived, to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS'  group,  with  a
                  TTL of 1.



        3     If the RP-Set message includes  a  BSR  address  that   is
             preferred  over, or equal to, the currently active BSR, the
             router resets its RP-Set timer to 180 seconds,  and  stores
             the  BSR address and RP-Set information. The RP-Set message
             is then forwarded out all PIM interfaces, excluding the one
             over which the message arrived, to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS' group,



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             with a TTL of 1.


        4    If the receiving router has no current RP  set  information
             and  the RP-set was unicast to it from a directly connected
             neighbor, the router stores the information as its new  RP-
             set.  This covers the startup condition when a newly booted
             router obtains the RP-Set and BSR address from its DR.


        When a router receives a new RP-Set it checks if each of the RPs
        referred  to  by  existing  state  (i.e., by (*,G), (*,*,RP), or
        (S,G)RPT-bit entries) is in the new RP-Set. If an RP is  not  in
        the  new  RP-set, that RP is considered unreachable and the hash
        algorithm (see  below)  is  re-performed  for  each  group  with
        locally  active  state  that  previously hashed to that RP. This
        will cause those groups to be distributed  among  the  remaining
        RPs. When the new RP-Set contains a new RP, the value of the new
        RP is calculated for each group covered by  that  C-RP's  Group-
        prefix.  Any  group for which the new RP's value is greater than
        the previously active RP's value is switched over to the new RP.




     3.7 Hash Function

        The hash function is used by all routers within a domain, to map
        a  group  to  one of the C-RPs from the RP-Set. For a particular
        group, G, the hash function uses only those C-RPs  whose  Group-
        prefix covers G. The algorithm takes as input the group address,
        and the addresses of the Candidate RPs, and gives as output  one
        RP address to be used.

        The protocol requires that all  routers  hash  to  the  same  RP
        within  a  domain  (except  for  transients). The following hash
        function must be used in each router:


        1 For each candidate RP address Ci in the Candidate-RP-
             Set, whose Group-prefix covers G, compute a value:
             Value(G,M,Ci) =
              1103515245 ((1103515245 (G&M)+12345) XOR Ci)+ 12345 mod 2^31
             where M is a hash-mask included in RP-Set messages.
             This  hash-mask  allows  a   small   number   of
             consecutive groups (e.g., 4) to always hash to the same RP.
             For instance, hierarchically-encoded data can  be  sent  on
             consecutive  group  addresses  to  get  the  same delay and
             fate-sharing characteristics.



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             In standard C, this corresponds to:

           srand(G & M);
           srand(rand() ^ Ci);
           value = rand();



        2    The candidate with the  highest  resulting  value  is  then
             chosen  as the RP for that group, and its identity and hash
             value are stored with the entry created.

             Ties between C-RPs having the same hash value,  are  broken
             in advantage of the highest address.



        The hash function algorithm is invoked by a DR,  upon  reception
        of  a  packet,  or IGMP Host-Membership-Report, for a group, for
        which the DR has no entry. It is invoked by any router that  has
        (*,*,RP)  state  when a packet is received for which there is no
        corresponding  (S,G)  or  (*,G)  entry.  Furthermore,  the  hash
        function  is  invoked by all routers upon receiving a Join/Prune
        message with WC-bit set.



     3.8 Processing Timer Events


        In this subsection, we  enumerate  all  timers  that  have  been
        discussed  or  implied. Since some critical timer events are not
        associated with the receipt or sending of messages, they are not
        fully covered by earlier subsections.

        Timers may either count up or count down. If they count up  then
        expiration  means  that  the  timer  has  reached its configured
        maximum value. If they count down then expiration means that the
        timer has reached zero.

        In many cases, the values for timers come from  Holdtime  fields
        in  PIM  control messages, in which case the default values used
        in  these  Holdtime  fields  are  shown  in  the  tables  below.
        Otherwise,  the  default  value  used  when setting the timer is
        shown.  In  general,  the  default  timeout  value   for   state
        information  is  three  times  the  refresh period. For example,
        Queries refresh  Neighbor  state  and  the  default  Query-timer
        period is 30 seconds, so a default Neighbor-timer duration of 90



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        seconds is included in the Holdtime field of the Queries.

        In this version of the  spec  we  suggest  particular  numerical
        timer  settings.  A  future  version  of  the specification will
        specify a mechanism for timers to be set as a  function  of  the
        outgoing link bandwidth.

     3.8.1 Timers related to tree maintenance

        Each (S,G),  (*,G),  and  (*,*,RP)  entry  has  multiple  timers
        associated  with  it:  one  for  each  interface in the outgoing
        interface list, one for the multicast routing entry itself,  and
        one  for  the Joiner-bit. Each (S,G) and (*,G) entry also has an
        Assert timer and an Assert-rate-limit timer. In  addition,  DR's
        have  a Register-bit-timer for each (S,G) entry and every router
        has a single Join/Prune timer.

        Because some of the outgoing interfaces in an  (S,G)  entry  are
        copied from the (*,G) outgoing interface list, they may not have
        explicit (S,G) join messages from some of the downstream routers
        (i.e.,  where members are joining to the (*,G) tree only). Thus,
        when a timer is reset for an  outgoing  interface  listed  in  a
        (*,G)  entry,  the  timers  are reset for that interface in each
        existing (S,G) entry whose oif list contains that interface  [*]
        The  same rule applies to (*,G) and (S,G) entries when resetting
        an oif timer on a (*,*,RP) entry.












_________________________
[*] If there are sources in the prune list of the (*,G)
join,  then  the timers for the arriving interface will
first be reset for those sources, and then this  inter-
face will be deleted from these same entries; producing
a correct result, even though the updating of  the  ti-
mers  was unnecessary. An implementation could optimize
this by checking the prune list before  processing  the
join list.




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   Timer              DefVal Notes

   Joiner-bit            90  Started : When Joiner bit is cleared
   per route entry           Reset by: Receiving Join from higher-IP neighbor on iif
                             Action  : Set Joiner bit

   Join/Prune            60  Started : When booting
                             Reset by: Nothing
                             Action  : Send Join/Prune to each RPF neighbor, restart timer

   oif                  180  Started : When adding oif to oiflist
   per (*,*,RP) oif          Restarted by: Receiving (*,*,RP) Join on that iface
                             Action  : Remove oif from oiflist

   oif                  180  Started : When adding oif to oiflist
   per (*,G) oif             Restarted by: Receiving (*,G) Join or IGMP
                             Host-Membership-Report for G on that iface, or
                             restartedting oif timer in (*,*,RP).
                             Action  : Remove oif from oiflist

   oif                  180  Started : When adding oif to oiflist
   per (S,G) oif             Restarted by: Receiving (S,G) Join on that
                             iface, or restartedting oif timer in (*,G) or
                             (*,*,RP).
                             Action  : Remove oif from oiflist

   (*,*,RP) entry       180  Started : When entry is created
   per (*,*,RP)              Restarted by: Restartedting timer on any oif
                             Action  : Delete entry

   (*,G) entry          180  Started : When entry is created
   per (*,G)                 Restarted by: Receiving (*,G) prune,
                             restarting timer on any oif, or receiving an
                             Assert with RPT-bit set.
                             Action  : Delete entry and any associated
                             (S,G)RPT-bit entries

   (S,G) entry          180  Started : When entry is created
   aka S-timer               Restarted by: Forwarding data packet,
   per (S,G)                 receiving Register, receiving (S,G)RPT-bit
                             prune, restarting timer on any oif,
                             or receiving an Assert without RPT-bit set.
                             Action  : Delete entry

   Register-bit          60  Started : When Register bit is cleared by
   per (S,G)                 receiving a Register-Stop
                             Restarted by: Receiving Register-Stop



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                             Action  : Set Register bit

   Assert               180  Started : Receiving an Assert where the
   per (S,G)                 upstream RPF neighbor is not your unicast RPF
   and (*,G)                 neighbor.
                             Restarted by: Receiving an Assert where the
                             upstream RPF neighbor is not your unicast
                             RPF neighbor.
                             Action  : Change RPF neighbor to unicast RPF neighbor

   Assert-Rate-limit      5  Started : When an Assert is sent
   per (S,G)                 Restarted by: Nothing
   and (*,G)                 Action  : Allow asserts to be triggered by
                             data packets



     3.8.2 Timers relating to neighbor discovery


   Timer              DefVal Notes

   Query                 30  Started : When booting
                             Restarted by: Nothing
                             Action  : Send Query on all ifaces, restart timer

   Neighbor              90  Started : When receive first Query from neighbor
   per neighbor              Restarted by: When receive subsequent Queries
                             Action  : Delete neighbor entry


        3.8.3 Timers relating to RP information



















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   Timer              DefVal Notes

   C-RP-Adv              60  Started : When booting if you're a Cand-RP
                             Restarted by: Nothing
                             Action  : Send C-RP-Adv, restart C-RP-Adv timer

   RP                   180  Started : When adding an RP to the RP-Set if
   per RP                    you are BSR
                             Restarted by: Receiving C-RP-Adv
                             Action  : Remove RP from RP-Set

   RP-Set            180/60  Started : Set to 180 when booting if
                             you're a C-BSR
                             Restarted by: Restarted to 180 when receive
                             RP-Set from preferred router if you're a C-BSR
                             Action  : Send RP-Set and restart  timer to 60 secs






     3.9 Summary of flags used

        Following is a summary of all the flags used in our scheme.

   Bit      Used in      Definition

   Border   Register     Register is coming from a PIM multicast border router.
   Joiner   Route entry  Periodic Join/Prunes should be sent for this entry.
   Register (S,G) entry  Encapsulate packets from directly connected
                         sources in Register messages unicast to the RP
                         for that group.
   RP       Route entry  Entry represents state on the RP-tree.
   RP       Join/Prune   Join is associated with the shared tree and therefore
                         the Join/Prune message is propagated along the RP-tree.
   RP       Assert       The data packet was routed down the shared tree; thus,
                         the path indicated corresponds to the RP tree.
   SPT      (S,G) entry  Packets have arrived on the iif towards S,
                         and the iif is different from the (*,G) iif.
   WC       Join         Included address is an RP and the receiver expects to
                         receive packets from all sources via this (shared tree)
                         path.  Thus, the Join/Prune applies to a (*,G) entry.
   WC       Route entry  Wildcard entry; if there is no more specific match for
                         a particular source, packets will be forwarded according
                         to this entry.




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     3.10 Security

        Editors Note: this section is to be completed.

        All PIM  control  messages  may  use  [5]  to  address  security
        concerns.













































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     4 Packet Formats

        This section describes the details of the packet formats for PIM
        control messages.

        All PIM control messages have protocol number 103.

        Basically, PIM messages are either unicast (e.g.  Registers  and
        Register-Stop),  or  multicast  hop-by-hop  to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS'
        group `224.0.0.13' (e.g. Join/Prune, Asserts, etc.).


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+






        PIM Ver
              PIM Version number is 2.


        Type  Types for specific PIM messages. PIM Types are:



           0 = Query
           1 = Register
           2 = Register-Stop
           3 = Join/Prune
           4 = RP-Set
           5 = Assert
           6 = Graft (used in PIM-DM only)
           7 = Graft-Ack (used in PIM-DM only)
           8 = Candidate-RP-Advertisement



        Addr length
              Address length in  bytes.  Throughout  this  section  this
             would  indicate the number of bytes in the Address field of
             an address, including unicast and group addresses.




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        Checksum
              The checksum is the 16-bit one's complement of  the  one's
             complement  sum  of  the entire PIM message, (excluding the
             data portion in the Register message).  For  computing  the
             checksum, the checksum field is zeroed.














































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     4.1 Encoded Source and Group Address formats



        1    Unicast address: Only the address is included.  The  length
             of  the  unicast address in bytes is specified in the `Addr
             length' field in the header.


        2    Encoded-Group-Address: Takes the following format:


          0                   1                   2                   3
          0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         |     Reserved  |  Mask Len     | Group multicast Address ...   |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         | ...Group multicast Address ...|
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+~+~+~+~+~+~+




             Reserved
                   Transmitted as zero. Ignored upon receipt.

             Mask Len
                   The Mask length is 8 bits. The value is the number of
                  contiguous  bits  left  justified used as a mask which
                  describes the address. It is less  than  or  equal  to
                  Addr  length  * 8. If the message is sent for a single
                  group then the Mask length should equal Addr length  *
                  8 (i.e. 32 for IPv4 and 128 for IPv6).

             Group multicast Address
                   contains the group address, and has number  of  bytes
                  equal to that specified in the Addr length field.



        3    Encoded-Source-Address: Takes the following format:










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          0                   1                   2                   3
          0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         | Rsrvd   |S|W|R|  Mask Len     | Source Address ...            |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         |  ...  Source Address          |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+~+~+-+





             Reserved
                   Transmitted as zero, ignored on receipt.

             S,W,R See Section 4.5 for details.

             Mask Length
                   Mask length is 8 bits. The value  is  the  number  of
                  contiguous  bits  left  justified used as a mask which
                  describes the address. The mask length  must  be  less
                  than  or  equal  to Addr Length * 8. If the message is
                  sent for a single source then the Mask  length  should
                  equal  Addr  length  *  8.  In version 2 of PIM, it is
                  strongly recommended that this field be set to 32  for
                  IPv4.

             Source Address
                   The address length is indicated from the Addr  length
                  field  at  the  beginning of the header. For IPv4, the
                  address length is 4 octets.



















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     4.2 Query Message

        It is sent periodically by routers on all interfaces.


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |           Reserved            |           Holdtime            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+




        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.

        Reserved
              Transmitted as zero, ignored on receipt.

        Holdtime
              The amount of time a receiver  should  keep  the  neighbor
             reachable, in seconds.


























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     4.3 Register Message

        It is sent by the Designated  Router  (DR)  to  the  RP  when  a
        multicast  packet needs to be transmitted on the RP-tree. Source
        IP address is set to the  address  of  the  DR,  destination  IP
        address is to the RP's address.


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |B|                         Reserved                            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                                                               |
                          Multicast data packet
    |                                                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+




        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.  Note that the checksum  for  Registers
             is  done  only on the PIM header, excluding the data packet
             portion.

        B     The Border bit. Set to zero by all DRs. Set to `1' by  the
             PIM Multicast Border Routers, when registering for external
             sources.


        Multicast data packet
              The original packet sent by the source.
















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     4.4 Register-Stop Message

        A Register-Stop is unicast from the RP  to  the  sender  of  the
        Register  message. Source IP address is the address to which the
        register was addressed. Destination IP  address  is  the  source
        address of the register message.


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                    Encoded-Group Address                      |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                    Unicast-Source Address                     |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+




        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.

        Encoded-Group Address
              Format described above. Note that for  Register-Stops  the
             Mask  Len  field  should  contain  Addr  length * 8 (32 for
             IPv4), if the message is sent for a single group.

        Unicast-Source Address
              IP host address of source from multicast  data  packet  in
             register. The length of this field in bytes is specified in
             the Addr length field. A special wild card value (0.0.0.0),
             can be used to indicate any source.

















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     4.5 Join/Prune Message

        It is sent by routers towards upstream sources and RPs.  A  join
        creates  forwarding state and a prune destroys forwarding state.
        Joins are sent to build shared trees (RP trees) or source  trees
        (SPT).  Prunes are sent to prune source trees when members leave
        groups as well as sources that do not use the shared tree.












































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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |             Unicast-Upstream Neighbor Address                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  Reserved     | Num groups    |          Holdtime             |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |            Encoded-Multicast Group Address-1                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Number of Joined  Sources   |   Number of Pruned Sources    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-1                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                             .                                 |
    |                             .                                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-n                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-1                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                             .                                 |
    |                             .                                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-n                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                           .                                   |
    |                           .                                   |
    |                           .                                   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                Encoded-Multicast Group Address-n              |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Number of Joined  Sources   |   Number of Pruned Sources    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-1                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                             .                                 |
    |                             .                                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-n                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-1                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                             .                                 |
    |                             .                                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+



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    |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-n                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+




        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.

        Upstream Neighbor Address
              The IP address of the RPF or upstream neighbor.

        Reserved
              Transmitted as zero, ignored on receipt.

        Holdtime
              The amount of time a receiver should keep  the  Join/Prune
             state alive, in seconds.

        Number of Groups
              The number  of  multicast  group  sets  contained  in  the
             message.

        Encoded-Multicast group address
              For format description see Section
              4.1. A wild card group in the (*,*,RP) join is represented
             by  a  224.0.0.0  in the group address field and `4' in the
             mask length field. A (*,*,RP) join also has the WC-bit  and
             the RPT-bit set.


        Number of Joined Sources
              Number of join source addresses listed for a given group.


        Join Source Address-1 .. n
              This list contains the sources  that  the  sending  router
             will  forward  multicast  datagrams  for if received on the
             interface this message is sent on.

             See format section  4.1. The  fields  explanation  for  the
             Encoded-Source-Address format follows:



             Reserved
                   Described above.




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             S     The Sparse bit is a 1 bit value, set to 1 for PIM-SM.
                  It is used for PIM v.1 compatability.

             W     The WC bit is a 1 bit value. If 1, the join or  prune
                  applies to the (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry. If 0, the join
                  or prune applies to the (S,G) entry where S is  Source
                  Address.  Joins  and prunes sent towards the RP should
                  have this bit set.

             R     The RPT-bit is a 1 bit value. If 1,  the  information
                  about  (S,G)  is  sent  towards  the  RP.  If  0,  the
                  information should be sent about (S,G) toward S, where
                  S is Source Address.

             Mask Length, Source Address
                   Described above.



             Represented  in  the  form  of  <  WC-bit  ><  RPT-bit  ><
             Mask length >< Source address>:

             A source address could be a host IP address :

              < 0 >< 0 >< 32 >< 192.1.1.17 >

             A source address could be the RP's IP address :

              < 1 >< 1 >< 32 >< 131.108.13.111 >

             A source address could be a subnet address  to  prune  from
             the RP-tree :

              < 0 >< 1 >< 28 >< 192.1.1.16 >

             A source address could be a general aggregate :

              < 0 >< 0 >< 16 >< 192.1.0.0 >

        Number of Pruned Sources
              Number of prune source addresses listed for a group.

        Prune Source Address-1 .. n
              This list contains the sources  that  the  sending  router
             does  not  want  to  forward  multicast  datagrams for when
             received on the interface this message is sent on  [*]
_________________________
[*] If the Join/Prune message boundary exceeds the max-



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     4.6 RP-Set

        The RP-Set messages are multicast  to  `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS'  group,
        out  all interfaces having PIM neighbors (excluding the one over
        which the message was received). RP-Set messages are  sent  with
        TTL  value  of  1. RP-Set messages originate at the BSR, and are
        forwarded by intermediate routers.

        RP-Set message is divided up into `semantic fragments',  if  the
        original message exceeds the maximum packet size boundaries.

        The semantics of a single `fragment' is given below:
































_________________________
imum packet size, then the join and prune lists for the
same group must be included in the same packet.




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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |         Fragment Tag          | Hash Mask len | BSR-priority  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Unicast-BSR-Address                   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Encoded-Group Address-1               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | RP-Count-1    | Frag RP-Cnt-1 |         Reserved              |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Unicast-RP-Address-1                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Unicast-RP-Address-m                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Encoded-Group Address-n               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | RP-Count-m    | Frag RP-Cnt-m |          Reserved             |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Unicast-RP-Address-1                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Unicast-RP-Address-m                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+






        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.

        Fragment Tag



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              A randomly  generated  number,  acts  to  distinguish  the
             fragments belonging to different RP-Set messages; fragments
             belonging to same RP-Set message carry the  same  `Fragment
             Tag'.

        Hash Mask len
              The length (in bits) of  the  mask  to  use  in  the  hash
             function.  For IPv4 we recommend a value of 30. For IPv6 we
             recommend a value of 126.

        BSR-priority
              Contains the BSR priority value of the included BSR.  This
             field is considered as a high order byte when comparing BSR
             addresses.

        Unicast-BSR-Address
              The IP address of the bootstrap router for the domain. The
             length of this field in bytes is specified in Addr length.

        Encoded-Group Address-1..n
              The  group  prefix  (address  and  mask)  with  which  the
             Candidate RPs are associated. Format previously described.


        RP-Count-1..n
              The number of Candidate RP addresses included in the whole
             RP-Set message for the corresponding group prefix  [*]


        Frag RP-Cnt-1..m
              The number of Candidate  RP  addresses  included  in  this
             fragment of the RP-Set message, for the corresponding group
             prefix. The `Frag RP-Cnt' field facilitates parsing of  the
             RP-Set  for  a  given  group prefix, when carried over more
             than one fragment.


        Unicast-RP-address-1..m
              The address of the Candidate RPs,  for  the  corresponding
_________________________
[*] A router does not replace its old  RP-Set  for  a
given  group prefix until/unless it receives `RP-Count'
addresses for that prefix; the addresses could be  car-
ried over several fragments. If only part of the RP-Set
for a given group prefix was received, the router  dis-
cards it, without updating that specific group prefix's
RP-Set.




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             group  prefix.  The  length  of  this  field  in  bytes  is
             specified in Addr length.

















































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     4.7 Assert Message

        The Assert message is sent  when  a  multicast  data  packet  is
        received  on an outgoing interface corresponding to the (S,G) or
        (*,G) associated with the source.


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                      Encoded-Group Address                    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                      Unicast-Source Address                   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |R|                        Metric Preference                    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                          Metric                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+




        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.

        Encoded-Group Address
              The group address to which the data packet was  addressed,
             and   which   triggered   the   Assert.  Format  previously
             described.

        Unicast-Source Address
              Source  IP  address  from  IP  multicast   datagram   that
             triggered  the Assert packet to be sent. The length of this
             field in bytes is specified in Addr length.

        R     RPT-bit is a 1 bit value. If  the  IP  multicast  datagram
             that  triggered  the  Assert  packet  is routed down the RP
             tree, then the RPT-bit is 1; if the IP  multicast  datagram
             is routed down the SPT, it is 0.

        Metric Preference
              Preference value assigned to the unicast routing  protocol
             that provided the route to Host address.

        Metric The unicast routing table metric. The metric is in  units
             applicable to the unicast routing protocol used.



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     4.8 Graft Message

        Used in dense-mode. Refer to PIM dense mode specification.

     4.9 Graft-Ack Message

        Used in dense-mode. Refer to PIM dense mode specification.












































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     4.10 Candidate-RP-Advertisement

        Candidate-RP-Advertisements are periodically  unicast  from  the
        C-RPs to the BSR.


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | Prefix-Cnt    | Reserved      |             Holdtime          |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Unicast-RP-Address                    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Encoded-Group Address-1               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    |                               .                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         Encoded-Group Address-n               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+






        PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
              Described above.

        Prefix-Cnt
              The number of encoded  group  addresses  included  in  the
             message;  indicating  the group prefixes for which the C-RP
             is advertising. A Prefix-Cnt of `0'  implies  a  prefix  of
             224.0.0.0 with mask length of 4; i.e. all multicast groups.
             If  the  C-RP   is   not   configured   with   Group-prefix
             information,  the  C-RP puts a default value of `0' in this
             field.

        Holdtime
              The amount of time the advertisement is valid. This  field
             allows advertisements to be aged out.

        Unicast-RP-Address
              The address of the interface to advertise as  a  Candidate
             RP.  The length of this field in bytes is specified in Addr



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             length.

        Encoded-Group Address-1..n
              The group prefixes for  which  the  C-RP  is  advertising.
             Format previously described.














































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     5 Appendix I: Major Changes and Updates to the Spec

        This appendix populates the major changes in  the  specification
        document as compared to `draft-ietf-idmr-pim-spec-01.ps,txt'.

     5.1 Major Changes

        List of changes since March '96 IETF:

        1. (*,*,RP) Joins state and data forwarding check;  replaces  (*,G-
        Prefix)  Joins  state for interoperability. (*,G) negative cache
        introduced for the (*,*,RP) state supporting mechanisms.

        2. Semantic fragmentation for the RP-Set message.


        List of changes incurred since version 1 of the spec.:

        1. Proposal and  refinement  of  bootstrap  router  (BSR)  election
        mechanisms

        2. Introduction of hash functions for Group to RP mapping

        3. New  RP-liveness  indication  mechanisms  based  upon  the   the
        Bootstrap Router (BSR) and the RP-Set messages.

        4. Removal of reachability messages, RP reports  and  multiple  RPs
        per group.

     5.2 Packet Format Changes

        Packet Format incurred updates to accommodate different  address
        lengths, and address aggregation.




        1    The `Addr length' field was added to the PIM  fixed  header
             to  specify  the  address length in bytes of the underlying
             protocol, see section  4.



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        2    The  Encoded  source  and  group   address   formats   were
             introduced,  with the use of a `Mask length' field to allow
             aggregation, section  4.1.

        3    Packet formats are no  longer  IGMP  messages;  rather  PIM
             messages.



        PIM message types and formats were also modified:


        [ Note: most changes were made to the May  95  version,  unless
        otherwise specified].




        1    Obsolete messages:

           (a)  Register-Ack [Feb. 96]

           (b)  Poll and Poll Response [Feb. 96]

           (c)  RP-Reachability [Feb. 96]

           (d)  RPlist-Mapping [Feb. 96]



        2    New messages:

          (a) Candidate-RP-Advertisement [change made in  October  95]
              RP-Set [Feb. 96]

        3    Modified messages:

          (a) Join/Prune [Feb. 96]

          (b) Register [Feb. 96]

          (c) Register-Stop [Feb. 96]




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     6 Acknowledgments

        Tony Ballardie, Scott Brim, Jon  Crowcroft,  Bill  Fenner,  Paul
        Francis,   Joel  Halpern,  Horst  Hodel,  Polly  Huang,  Stephen
        Ostrowski,  and  Lixia  Zhang  provided  detailed  comments   on
        previous  drafts.  The authors of [6] and membership of the IDMR
        WG provided many of the  motivating  ideas  for  this  work  and
        useful feedback on design details.

        This work was supported  by  the  National  Science  Foundation,
        ARPA, cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems.




        References


   1.   S.Deering,  D.Estrin,  D.Farinacci,  V.Jacobson,  C.Liu,  L.Wei,
        P.Sharma,  and  A.Helmy.  Protocol independent multicast (pim) :
        Motivation and architecture.
         Internet Draft, May 1995.


   2.   S.Deering, D.Estrin, D.Farinacci, V.Jacobson, C.Liu, and  L.Wei.
        The pim architecture for wide-area multicast routing.
         ACM Transactions on Networks, April 1996.


   3.   D.Estrin, D.Farinacci, V.Jacobson, C.Liu, L.Wei,  P.Sharma,  and
        A.Helmy.  Protocol  independent  multicast-dense mode (pim-dm) :
        Protocol specification.  Internet Draft, November 1995.


   4.   S.Deering.  Host  extensions  for  ip  multicasting,  aug  1989.
        RFC1112.


   5.   R.Atkinson. Security architecture  for  the  internet  protocol,
        August 1995. RFC-1825.


   6.   A.J. Ballardie, P.F. Francis, and J.Crowcroft. Core based trees.
        In  Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM, San Francisco, 1993.







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