Inter-Domain Multicast Routing (IDMR)                          D. Thaler
Internet Engineering Task Force                              U. Michigan
INTERNET-DRAFT                                             26 March 1997
draft-thaler-multicast-interop-01.txt           Expires: September, 1997


         Interoperability Rules for Multicast Routing Protocols
                <draft-thaler-multicast-interop-01.txt>

Status of this Memo

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Abstract

The rules described in this document will allow efficient interoperation
among multiple independent multicast routing domains.  Specific
instantiations of these rules are given for the DVMRP, MOSPF, PIM-DM,
PIM-SM, and CBT multicast routing protocols, as well as for IGMP-only
links.

















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Introduction

To allow sources and receivers inside multiple autonomous multicast
routing domains (or "regions") to communicate, the domains must be
connected by multicast border routers (MBRs).  To prevent black holes or
routing loops among domains, we assume that these domains are organized
into one of the following topologies:

  o  A tree (or star) topology (figure 1) with a backbone domain at the
     root, stub domains at the leaves, and possibly "transit" domains as
     branches between the root and the leaves.  Each pair of adjacent
     domains is connected by one or more MBRs.  The root of each subtree
     of domains receives all globally-scoped traffic originated anywhere
     within the subtree, and forwards traffic to its parent and children
     where needed.  Each parent domain's MBR injects a default route
     into its child domains, while child domains' MBRs inject actual
     (but potentially aggregated) routes into parent domains.  Thus, the
     arrows in the figure indicate both the direction in which the
     default route points, as well as the direction in which all
     globally-scoped traffic is sent.

                                 +--------+
                            +----|        |----+
            +---+    +---+  |  ===>      <===  |
            |   |    |   |  +----|   #    |----+
            |   |    | # |     +-----#------+
            | # |  +---#-------|     v      |-----------+
           +--#----|   v       |            |           |-----+
           |  v  ===>        ===> Backbone <===        <===   |
           +-------|   ^       |            |     ^     |-----+
                   +---#-------|     ^      |-----#-----+
                     | # |     +-----#------+ |   #    |-----+
                     |   |       |   #    |   |       <===   |
                     +---+   +---|        |   |        |-----+
                             | ===>       |   +--------+
                             +---+--------+

                   Figure 1: Tree Topology of Domains

  o  An arbitrary topology, in which a higher level (inter-domain)
     routing protocol, such as HDVMRP [1], is used to calculate paths
     among domains.  Each pair of adjacent domains is connected by one
     or more MBRs.  In this scheme, external routes are not known within
     domains.  Instead, the default route points towards the closest
     MBR. In addition, all globally-scoped traffic must reach all of the
     originating domain's MBRs.

Section 2 describes rules allowing interoperability between existing



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multicast routing protocols [2,3,4,5,6], and reduces the
interoperability problem from O(N^2) potential protocol interactions, to
just N (1 per protocol) instantiations of the same set of invariant
rules.  This document specifically applies to Multicast Border Routers
(MBRs) which meet the following assumptions:

  o  The MBR consists of two or more active routing components, each
     running an instance of some routing protocol.  No assumption is
     made about the type of routing protocol (e.g., broadcast-and-prune
     or explicit-join, distance-vector or link-state) any component
     runs, or the nature of a "component".  Multiple components running
     the same protocol are allowed.

  o  The router is configured to forward packets between two or more
     independent domains.  The router has one or more active interfaces
     in each domain, and one component per domain.

  o  Only one multicast routing protocol is active per interface (we do
     not consider mixed multicast protocol LANs).  Each interface on
     which multicast is enabled is thus "owned" by exactly one of the
     components.

  o  All components share a common forwarding cache of (S,G) entries,
     which are created when data packets are received, and can be
     deleted at any time.  Only the component owning an interface may
     change information about that interface in the forwarding cache.
     Each forwarding cache entry has a single incoming interface (iif)
     and a list of outgoing interfaces (oiflist).  Each component
     typically keeps a separate routing table with any type of entries.

Note that the guidelines in this document are implementation-
independent.  The same rules given in Section 2 apply in some form,
regardless of the implementation.  For example, they apply to each of
the following architectural models:

  o  Single process (e.g., gated): Several routing components in the
     same user-space process, running on top of a multicast-capable
     kernel.

  o  Multiple peer processes: Several routing components, each as a
     separate user-space process, all sitting on top of a multicast-
     capable kernel, with N*(N-1) interaction channels.

  o  Multiple processes with arbiter: Multiple independent peer routing
     component processes which interact with each other and with the
     kernel solely through an independent arbitration daemon.

  o  Monolith: Several routing components which are part of the "kernel"



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     itself.

We describe all interactions between components in terms of alerts.  The
nature of an alert is implementation dependent (e.g., it may consist of
a simple function call, writing to shared memory, use of IPC, or some
other method) but alerts of some form exist in every model. Similarly,
the originator of an alert is also implementation-dependent; for
example, alerts may be originated by a component effecting a change, by
an independent arbiter, or by the kernel.

2.  Requirements

To insure that a MBR fitting the above assumptions exhibits correct
interdomain routing behavior, each MBR component MUST adhere to the
following rules:

Rule 1: All components must agree on which component owns the incoming
        interface (iif) for a forwarding cache entry.

When a routing change occurs which causes the iif to change to an
interface owned by a different component, both the component previously
owning the entry's iif and the component afterwards owning the entry's
iif MUST notice the change (so the first can prune upstream and the
second can join/graft upstream, for example). Typically, noticing such
changes will happen as a result of normal protocol behavior.

Rule 2: The component owning an interface specifies the criteria for
        which packets received on that interface are to be accepted or
        dropped (e.g., whether to perform an RPF check, and what scoped
        boundaries exist on that interface).  Once a packet is accepted,
        however, it is processed according to the forwarding rules of
        all components.

Rule 3: Whenever a new (S,G) forwarding cache entry is created (upon
        accepting a packet destined to a non-local group), all
        components MUST be alerted [(S,G) Creation alert] so that they
        can set the forwarding state on their own outgoing interfaces
        (oifs) before the packet is forwarded.

Note that (S,G) Creation alerts are not necessarily generated by one of
the protocol components themselves.

Rule 4: When a component removes the last oif from an (S,G) forwarding
        cache entry whose iif is owned by another component, the
        component owning the iif MUST be alerted [(S,G) Prune alert] (so
        it can send a prune, for example).

Rule 5: When the first oif is added to an (S,G) forwarding cache entry



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        whose iif is owned by another component, the component owning
        the iif MUST be alerted [(S,G) Join alert] (so it can send a
        join or graft, for example).

The oif list in rules 4 and 5 must also logically include any virtual
encapsulation interfaces such as those used for tunneling or for sending
encapsulated packets to an RP/core.

Rule 6: Unless a component reports the aggregate group membership in the
        direction of its interfaces, it MUST be a "wildcard receiver"
        for all sources whose RPF interface is owned by another
        component ("externally-reached" sources).  In addition, a
        component MUST be a "wildcard receiver" for all sources whose
        RPF interface is owned by that component ("internally-reached"
        sources) if any other component of the MBR is a wildcard
        receiver for externally-reached sources.

For example, if the backbone does not keep global membership
information, all MBR components in the backbone in a tree topology of
domains, as well as all components owning the RPF interface towards the
backbone are wildcard receivers for externally-reached sources.

MBRs need not be wildcard receivers (for internally- or externally-
reached sources) if a higher-level routing protocol, such as HDVMRP, is
used for routing between domains.

2.1.  Deleting Forwarding Cache Entries

Special care must be taken to follow Rules 4 and 5 when forwarding cache
entries can be deleted at will.  Specifically, a component must be able
to determine when the combined oiflist for (S,G) goes from null to non-
null, and vice versa.

This can be done in any implementation-specific manner, including, but
not limited to, the following possibilities:

  o  Whenever a component would modify the oiflist of a single
     forwarding cache entry if one existed, one is first created.  The
     oiflist is then modified and Rules 4 and 5 applied after an (S,G)
     Creation alert is sent to all components and all components have
     updated the oiflist.  OR,

  o  When a forwarding cache entry is to be deleted, a new alert [(S,G)
     Deletion alert] is sent to all components, and the entry is only
     deleted if all components then grant permission.  Each component
     could then grant permission only if it had no (S,G) route table
     entry.




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2.2.  Additional Recommendation

Using (*,G) Join alerts and (*,G) Prune alerts can reduce bandwidth
usage by avoiding broadcast-and-prune behavior among domains when it is
unnecessary.  This optimization requires that each component be able to
determine which other components are interested in any given group.

Although this may be done in any implementation-dependent method, one
example would be to maintain a common table (which we call the
Component-Group Table) indexed by group-prefix, listing which components
are interested in each group(prefix).  Thus, any components which are
wildcard receivers for externally-reached sources (i.e., those whose RPF
interface is owned by another component) would be listed in all entries
of this table, including a default entry.  This table is thus loosely
analogous to a forwarding cache of (*,G) entries, except that no
distinction is made between incoming and outgoing interfaces.

3.  DVMRP

In this section we describe how the rules in section 2 apply to DVMRP.
We assume that the reader is familiar with normal DVMRP behavior as
specified in [2].

As with all broadcast-and-prune protocols, DVMRP components are
automatically wildcard receivers for internally-reached sources.  Unless
some form of Domain-Wide-Reports (DWRs) (synonymous with Regional-
Membership-Reports as described in [1]) are added to DVMRP in the
future, all DVMRP components also act as wildcard receivers for
externally-reached sources.  If DWRs are available for the domain, then
a DVMRP component acts as a wildcard receiver for externally-reached
sources only if internally-reached domains exist which do not support
some form of DWRs.

One simple heuristic to approximate DWRs is to assume that if there are
any internally-reached members, then at least one of them is a sender.
With this heuristic, the presense of any (S,G) state for internally-
reached sources can be used instead.  Sending a data packet to a group
is then equivalent to sending a DWR for the group.

3.1.  Generating Alerts

A (S,G) Prune alert is sent to the component owning the iif for a
forwarding cache entry whenever the last oif is removed from the entry,
and the iif is owned by another component.  In DVMRP, this may happen
when:
  o  A DVMRP (S,G) Prune message is received on the logical interface.

A (S,G) Join alert is sent to the component owning the iif for a



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forwarding cache entry whenever the first logical oif is added to an
entry, and the iif is owned by another component.  In DVMRP, this may
happen when any of the following occur:
  o  The oif's prune timer expires, or
  o  A DVMRP Graft message is received on the logical interface, or
  o  IGMP [7] notifies DVMRP that directly-connected group members now
     exist on the interface.

When it is known that there are no longer any members of a group G in
the DVMRP domain which receive data for externally-reached sources from
the local router, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a
(*,G) Prune alert is sent to that component.  When it is known that
there are no longer any members of a group G in the DVMRP domain which
receive data for externally-reached sources from the local router, and
no other components want data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to all
other components.  In DVMRP, these may happen when:
  o  The DWR for G times out.
  o  The members-are-senders approximation is being used and DVMRP's
     last (S,G) entry for G is timed out.

When it is first known that there are members of a group G in the DVMRP
domain, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a (*,G) Join
alert is sent to that component.  When it is first known that there are
members of a group G in the DVMRP domain, and no other components want
data for G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to all other components.  In
DVMRP, these may happen when either of the following occurs:
  o  A DWR is received for G.
  o  The members-are-senders approximation is being used and a data
     packet for G is received on one of the component's interfaces.

3.2.  Processing Alerts

When a DVMRP component receives a (S,G) Creation alert, all the
component's interfaces are added to the entry's oif list (according to
normal DVMRP behavior) EXCEPT:
  o  the iif,
  o  leaf networks without local members of the entry's group,
  o  and interfaces with scoped boundaries covering the group.

When a DVMRP component receives a (S,G) Prune alert, and the forwarding
cache entry's oiflist is empty, it sends a DVMRP (S,G) Prune message to
the upstream neighbor according to normal DVMRP behavior.

When a DVMRP component receives a (*,G) Prune alert, it is treated as if
a (S,G) Prune alert were received for every existing (S,G) route entry
for the group G.

When a DVMRP component receives a (S,G) Join alert, and a prune was



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previously sent upstream, it sends a DVMRP (S,G) Graft message to the
upstream neighbor according to normal DVMRP behavior.

When a DVMRP component receives a (*,G) Join alert, it is treated as if
a (S,G) Join alert were received for every existing (S,G) route entry
for the group G.  In addition, if DWRs are being used, the component
sends a DWR for G within its domain.


4.  MOSPF

In this section we describe how the rules in section 2 apply to MOSPF.
We assume that the reader is familiar with normal MOSPF behavior as
specified in [3].  We note that MOSPF allows joining and pruning entire
groups, but not individual sources within groups.

Although interoperability between MOSPF and dense-mode protocols (such
as DVMRP) is specified in [3], we describe here how an MOSPF
implementation may interoperate with all other multicast routing
protocols.

An MOSPF component acts as a wildcard receiver for internally-reached
sources if and only if any other component is a wildcard receiver for
externally-reached sources.  An MOSPF component acts as a wildcard
receiver for externally-reached sources only if internally-reached
domains exist which do not support some form of Domain-Wide-Reports
(DWRs) (synonymous with Regional-Membership-Reports as described in
[1]).  Since MOSPF floods membership information throughout the domain,
MOSPF itself is considered to support a form of DWRs natively.

4.1.  Generating Alerts

When it is known that there are no longer any members of a group G in
the MOSPF domain, and exactly one other component wants to receive data
for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to that component. When it is known
that there are no longer any members of a group G in the MOSPF domain,
and no other components want to receive data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert
is sent to all other components. In MOSPF, these may happen when either:
  o  IGMP notifies MOSPF that there are no longer any directly-connected
     group members on an interface, or
  o  Any router's group-membership-LSA for G is aged out.

When it is first known that there are members of a group G in the MOSPF
domain, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a (*,G) Join
alert is sent to that component. When it is first known that there are
members of a group G in the MOSPF domain, and no other component wants
data for G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to all other components. In
MOSPF, these may happen when any of the following occur:



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  o  IGMP notifies MOSPF that directly-connected group members now exist
     on the interface, or
  o  A group-membership-LSA is received for G.

4.2.  Processing Alerts

When an MOSPF component receives a (S,G) Creation alert, it calculates
the shortest path tree for the MOSPF domain, and adds the downstream
interfaces to the entry's oif list according to normal MOSPF behavior.

When an MOSPF component receives a (S,G) Prune alert, the alert is
ignored, since MOSPF can only prune entire groups at a time.

When an MOSPF component receives a (*,G) Prune alert, and there are no
directly-connected members on any MOSPF interface, the router
"prematurely ages" out its group-membership-LSA for G in the MOSPF
domain according to normal MOSPF behavior.

When a MOSPF component receives either a (S,G) Join alert or a (*,G)
Join alert, and G was not previously included in the router's group-
membership-LSA (and the component is not a wild-card multicast
receiver), it originates a group-membership-LSA in the MOSPF domain
according to normal MOSPF behavior.


5.  PIM-DM

In this section we describe how the rules in section 2 apply to Dense-
mode PIM.  We assume that the reader is familiar with normal PIM-DM
behavior as specified in [6].

As with all broadcast-and-prune protocols, PIM-DM components are
automatically wildcard receivers for internally-reached sources.  Unless
some form of Domain-Wide-Reports (DWRs) (synonymous with Regional-
Membership-Reports as described in [1]) are added to PIM-DM in the
future, all PIM-DM components also act as wildcard receivers for
externally-reached sources.  If DWRs are available for the domain, then
a PIM-DM component acts as a wildcard receiver for externally-reached
sources only if internally-reached domains exist which do not support
some form of DWRs.

One simple heuristic to approximate DWRs is to assume that if there are
any internally-reached members, then at least one of them is a sender.
With this heuristic, the presense of any (S,G) state for internally-
reached sources can be used instead.  Sending a data packet to a group
is then equivalent to sending a DWR for the group.

5.1.  Generating Alerts



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A (S,G) Prune alert is sent to the component owning the iif for a
forwarding cache entry whenever the last oif is removed from the
forwarding cache entry, and the iif is owned by another component. In
PIM-DM, this may happen when:
  o  A PIM (S,G) Join/Prune message with S in the prune list is received
     on a point-to-point interface.
  o  The Oif-Timer in an (S,G) route table entry expires.
  o  A PIM (S,G) Assert message from a preferred neighbor is received on
     the interface.

A (S,G) Join alert is sent to the component owning the iif for a
forwarding cache entry whenever the first oif is added to an entry, and
the iif is owned by another component.  In PIM-DM, this may happen when
any of the following occur:
  o  The oif's prune timer expires, or
  o  A PIM-DM (S,G) Graft message is received on the interface, or
  o  IGMP notifies PIM-DM that directly-connected group members now
     exist on the interface.

When it is known that there are no longer any members of a group G in
the PIM-DM domain which receive data for externally-reached sources from
the local router, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a
(*,G) Prune alert is sent to that component.  When it is known that
there are no longer any members of a group G in the PIM-DM domain which
receive data for externally-reached sources from the local router, and
no other components want data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to all
other components.  In PIM-DM, these may happen when:
  o  The DWR for G times out.
  o  The members-are-senders approximation is being used and PIM-DM's
     last (S,G) entry for G is timed out.

When it is first known that there are members of a group G in the PIM-DM
domain, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a (*,G) Join
alert is sent to that component.  When it is first known that there are
members of a group G in the PIM-DM domain, and no other components want
data for G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to all other components.  In
PIM-DM, these may happen when either of the following occurs:
  o  A DWR is received for G.
  o  The members-are-senders approximation is being used and a data
     packet for G is received on one of the component's interfaces.

5.2.  Processing Alerts

When a PIM-DM component receives a (S,G) Creation alert, all the
component's interfaces are added to the entry's oif list (according to
normal PIM-DM behavior) EXCEPT:
  o  the iif,
  o  leaf networks without local members of the entry's group,



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  o  and interfaces with scoped boundaries covering the group.

When a PIM-DM component receives a (S,G) Prune alert, and the forwarding
cache entry's oiflist is empty, it sends a PIM-DM (S,G) Prune message to
the upstream neighbor according to normal PIM-DM behavior.

When a PIM-DM component receives a (*,G) Prune alert, it is treated as
if a (S,G) Prune alert were received for every existing (S,G) forwarding
cache entry for the group G.

When a PIM-DM component receives a (S,G) Join alert, and a prune was
previously sent upstream, it sends a PIM-DM (S,G) Graft message to the
upstream neighbor according to normal PIM-DM behavior.

When a PIM-DM component receives a (*,G) Join alert, it is treated as if
a (S,G) Join alert were received for every existing (S,G) route entry
for the group G.  In addition, if DWRs are being used, the component
sends a DWR for G within its domain.


6.  PIM-SM

In this section we describe how the rules in section 2 apply to Sparse-
mode PIM.  We assume that the reader is familiar with normal PIM-SM
behavior, as specified in [4].

To achieve correct PIM-SM behavior within the domain, the PIM-SM domain
MUST be convex so that Bootstrap messages reach all routers in the
domain.  That is, the shortest-path route from any internal router to
any other internal router must lie entirely within the PIM domain.

Unless some form of Domain-Wide-Reports (DWRs) (synonymous with
Regional-Membership-Reports as described in [1]) are added to PIM-SM in
the future, all PIM-SM components act as wildcard receivers for
externally-reached sources.  If DWRs are available for the domain, then
a PIM-SM component acts as a wildcard receiver for externally-reached
sources only if internally-reached domains exist which do not support
some form of DWRs.

A PIM-SM component acts as a wildcard receiver for internally-reached
sources if and only if any other component is a wildcard receiver for
externally-reached sources.  It does this by periodically sending
(*,*,RP) Joins to all RPs for non-local groups (for example, 239.x.x.x
is considered locally-scoped, and PIM-SM components do not send (*,*,RP)
Joins to RPs supporting only that portion of the address space).  The
period is set according to standard PIM-SM rules for periodic Join/Prune
messages.




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To properly instantiate Rule 1, whenever PIM creates an (S,G) route
entry for an externally-reached source, and the next hop towards S is
reached via an interface owned by another component, the iif should
always point towards S and not towards the RP for G.  In addition, the
Border-bit is set in all PIM Register messages for this entry.

Finally, the PIM-SM component acts as a DR for externally-reached
receivers in terms of being able to switch to the shortest-path tree for
internally-reached sources.

6.1.  Generating Alerts

A (S,G) Prune alert is sent to the component owning the iif for a
forwarding cache entry whenever the last oif is removed from the entry
and the iif is owned by another component.  In PIM-SM, this may happen
when:
  o  A PIM (S,G) Join/Prune message with S in the prune list is received
     on a point-to-point interface, or
  o  A PIM (S,G) Assert from a preferred neighbor was received on the
     interface, or
  o  A PIM Register-Stop message is received for (S,G), or
  o  The interface's Oif-Timer for PIM's (S,G) route table entry
     expires.
  o  The Entry-Timer for PIM's (S,G) route table entry expires.

When it is known that there are no longer any members of a group G in
the PIM-SM domain which receive data for externally-reached sources from
the local router, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a
(*,G) Prune alert is sent to that component. When it is known that there
are no longer any members of a group G in the PIM-SM domain which
receive data for externally-reached sources from the local router, and
no other components want data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to all
other components. In PIM-SM, these may happen when:
  o  A PIM (*,G) Join/Prune message with G in the prune list is received
     on a point-to-point interface, or
  o  A PIM (*,G) Assert from a preferred neighbor was received on the
     interface, or
  o  IGMP notifies PIM-SM that directly-connected members no longer
     exist on the interface.
  o  The Entry-Timer for PIM's (*,G) route table entry expires.

A (S,G) Join alert is sent to the component owning the iif for a
forwarding cache entry whenever the first logical oif is added to an
entry and the iif is owned by another component.  In PIM-SM, this may
happen when any of the following occur:
  o  A PIM (S,G) Join/Prune message is received on the interface, or
  o  The Register-Suppression-Timer for (S,G) expires, or
  o  The Entry-Timer for a (S,G) negative-cache state route table entry



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     expires.

When it is first known that there are members of a group G in the PIM-SM
domain, and exactly one other component wants data for G, a (*,G) Join
alert is sent to that component. When it is first known that there are
members of a group G in the PIM-SM domain, and no other components want
data for G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to all other components.  In
PIM-SM, these may happen when any of the following occur:
  o  A PIM (*,G) Join/Prune message is received on the interface, or
  o  A PIM (*,*,RP) Join/Prune message is received on the interface, or
  o  (*,G) negative cache state expires, or
  o  IGMP notifies PIM that directly-connected group members now exist
     on the interface.

6.2.  Processing Alerts

When a PIM-SM component receives a (S,G) Creation alert, a longest match
((S,G), then (*,G), then (*,*,RP)) search is done in the routing table.
All outgoing interfaces of that entry are then added to the (S,G)
forwarding cache entry, except that the forwarding cache entry's iif is
never added to the oiflist.  Unless the PIM-SM component owns the iif,
the oiflist is also modified to support sending PIM Registers with the
Border-bit set to the corresponding RP.

When a PIM-SM component receives a (S,G) Prune alert, and the forwarding
cache entry's oiflist is empty, it sends a (S,G) Join/Prune message with
S in the prune list to the upstream neighbor according to normal PIM-SM
behavior.

When a PIM-SM component receives a (*,G) Prune alert, and PIM's (*,G)
route entry's oiflist is empty, it sends a (*,G) Join/Prune message with
G in the prune list to the upstream neighbor towards the RP for G,
according to normal PIM-SM behavior.

When a PIM-SM component receives a (S,G) Join alert, it sends a (S,G)
Join/Prune message to the next-hop neighbor towards S, and resets the
(S,G) Entry-timer, according to normal PIM-SM behavior.

When a PIM-SM component receives a (*,G) Join alert, and PIM's (*,G)
route entry's oiflist is empty, it sends a (*,G) Join/Prune message to
the next-hop neighbor towards the RP for G, and resets the (*,G) Entry-
timer, according to normal PIM-SM behavior.


7.  CBT

In this section we describe how the rules in section 2 apply to CBT.  We
assume that the reader is familiar with normal CBT behavior as specified



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in [5]. We note that, like MOSPF, CBT allows joining and pruning entire
groups, but not individual sources within groups.

Interoperability between a single CBT stub domain and a DVMRP backbone
is outlined in [8].  Briefly, CBT MBR components are statically
configured such that, whenever an external route exists between two or
more MBRs, one is designated as the primary, and the others act as non-
forwarding (to prevent duplicate packets) backups.   Thus, a CBT domain
must not serve as transit between two domains if another route between
them exists.

We now describe how a CBT implementation may extend this to interoperate
with all other multicast routing protocols.  A CBT component acts as a
wildcard receiver for internally-reached sources if and only if any
other component is a wildcard receiver for externally-reached sources.
It does this by sending JOIN-REQUESTs for all non-local group ranges to
all known cores, as described in [8].

Unless some form of Domain-Wide-Reports (DWRs) (synonymous with
Regional-Membership-Reports as described in [1]) are added to CBT in the
future, all CBT components act as wildcard receivers for externally-
reached sources.  If DWRs are available for the domain, then a CBT
component acts as a wildcard receiver for externally-reached sources
only if internally-reached domains exist which do not support some form
of DWRs.

7.1.  Generating Alerts

When the last oif is removed from the core tree for G, and exactly one
other component wants data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to that
component. When the last oif is removed from the core tree for G, and no
other components want data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to all
other components. Since CBT always sends all data to the core, the only
time these can occur after the entry is created is when the MBR is the
core.  In this case, the last oif is removed from the entry when:
  o  A QUIT-REQUEST is received on the logical interface, and there are
     no directly-connected members present on the interface, or
  o  IGMP notifies CBT that there are no longer directly-connected
     members present on the interface, and the interface is not a CBT
     child interface for group G.

Whenever the first CBT outgoing interface is added to an existing core
tree, and exactly one other component wants to receive data for G, a
(*,G) Join alert is sent to that component.  Whenever the first CBT
outgoing interface is added to an existing core tree, and no other
components want to receive data for G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to all
other components.  Since CBT always sends all data to the core, the only
time these can occur after the entry is created is when the MBR is the



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core.  In this case, the first logical oif is added to an entry when:
  o  A JOIN-REQUEST for G is received on the interface, or
  o  IGMP notifies CBT that directly-connected group members now exist
     on the interface.

7.2.  Processing Alerts

When a CBT component receives a (S,G) Creation alert, and the router is
functioning as the designated BR, any CBT interfaces which are on the
tree for G are added to the forwarding cache entry's oif list (according
to normal CBT behavior).

When a CBT component receives a (S,G) Prune alert, the alert is ignored,
since CBT cannot prune specific sources.  Thus, it will continue to
receive packets from S since it must receive packets from other sources
in group G.

When a CBT component receives a (*,G) Prune alert, and the router is not
the primary core for G, and the only CBT on-tree interface is the
interface towards the core, it sends a QUIT-REQUEST to the next-hop
neighbor towards the core, according to normal CBT behavior.

When a CBT component receives either a (S,G) Join alert or a (*,G) Join
alert, and the router is not the primary core for G, and the router is
not already on the core-tree for G, it sends a CBT (*,G) JOIN-REQUEST to
the next-hop neighbor towards the core, according to normal CBT
behavior.


8.  IGMP-only links

In this section we describe how the rules in section 2 apply to a link
which is not within any routing domain, and hence no routing protocol
messages are exchanged and the interface is not owned by any multicast
routing protocol component.  We assume that the reader is familiar with
normal IGMP behavior as specified in [7].  We note that IGMPv2 allows
joining and pruning entire groups, but not individual sources within
groups.

An IGMP-only "component" may only own a single interface; hence an
IGMP-only domain only consists of a single link.  Since an IGMP-only
component can only act as a wildcard receiver for internally-reached
sources if all internally-reached sources are directly-connected, then
either the IGMP-only domain (link) must be a stub domain, or else there
must be no other components which are wildcard receivers for
externally-reached sources.  An IGMP-only component itself acts as a
wildcard receiver for externally-reached sources if any internally-
reached domains exist which do not support some form of DWRs.



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8.1.  Generating Alerts

When it is known that there are no longer any directly-connected members
of a group G on the IGMP-only interface, and exactly one other component
wants to receive data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to that
component.  When it is known that there are no longer any directly-
connected members of a group G, and no other components want to receive
data for G, a (*,G) Prune alert is sent to all other components.  In
IGMP, these may happen when:
  o  The group membership times out.

When it is first known that there are directly-connected members of a
group G on the interface, and exactly one other component wants data for
G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to that component.  When it is first known
that there are directly-connected members of a group G on the interface,
and no other component wants data for G, a (*,G) Join alert is sent to
all other components.  In IGMP, these may happen when any of the
following occur:
  o  A Membership Report is received for G.

8.2.  Processing Alerts

When an IGMP-only component receives a (S,G) Creation alert, and there
are directly-connected members of G present on its interface, it adds
the interface to the entry's oif list.

When an IGMP-only component receives a (S,G) Prune alert, the alert is
ignored, since IGMP can only prune entire groups at a time.

When an IGMP-only component receives a (*,G) Prune alert, the router
leaves the group G, sending an IGMP Leave message if it was the last
reporter, according to normal IGMPv2 behavior.

When an IGMP-only component receives either a (S,G) Join alert or a
(*,G) Join alert, and the component was not previously a member of G on
the IGMP-only interface (and the component is not a wildcard receiver
for internally reached sources), it joins the group on the interface,
causing it to send an unsolicited Membership Report according to normal
IGMP behavior.

References


[1]  Ajit S. Thyagarajan and Stephen E. Deering.  Hierarchical
     distance-vector multicast routing for the MBone.  In "Proceedings
     of the ACM SIGCOMM", pages 60--66, October 1995.

[2]  T. Pusateri.  Distance vector multicast routing protocol.  Internet



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     Draft, September 1996.  Available from
     ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-dvmrp-v3-
     03.ps.

[3]  J. Moy.  Multicast extensions to OSPF.  RFC1584, July 1993.
     Available from ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1585.txt.

[4]  Estrin, Farinacci, Helmy, Thaler, Deering, Handley, Jacobson, Liu,
     Sharma, and Wei.  Protocol independent multicast-sparse mode (PIM-
     SM): Specification.  Internet Draft, September 1996.  Available
     from ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-pim-sm-
     spec-07.ps.

[5]  A. J. Ballardie, S. Reeve, and N. Jain.  Core based trees (CBT)
     multicast: Protocol specification.  Internet Draft, April 1996.
     Available from ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-
     idmr-cbt-spec-06.txt.

[6]  Estrin, Farinacci, Helmy, Jacobson, and Wei.  Protocol independent
     multicast (PIM), dense mode protocol specification.  Internet
     Draft, September 1996.  Available from
     ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-pim-dm-spec-
     04.ps.

[7]  W. Fenner.  Internet group management protocol, version 2.
     Internet Draft, May 1996.  Available from
     ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-igmp-v2-
     03.txt.

[8]  A. J. Ballardie.  Core based tree (CBT) multicast interoperability
     - stage 1.  Internet Draft, April 1996.  Available from
     ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-idmr-cbt-
     interop1-00.txt.

9.  Security Considerations

Security considerations are not discussed in this document. All
operations described herein are internal to multicast border routers.


10.  Address of Author

Dave Thaler
EECS Department
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Phone: (313) 763-5243
Email: thalerd@eecs.umich.edu



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