Introduction to IP Multicast

The Comware® Operating System—H3C's integrated technologies platform for IP-based products—supports all IPv4/IPv6 Layer 3 multicast protocols and Layer 2 multicast technologies such as Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping, Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping and multicast virtual LAN (VLAN). With complete multicast capabilities, Comware can satisfy the requirements of IP multicast applications from Layer 2 to Layer 3, intra-domain to inter-domain, IPv4 to IPv6, and public network to private VPN networks.

Features & Benefits

IP Multicast includes support for:

• Layer 3 Multicast Protocols — Layer 3 multicast protocols supported on the Comware platform include multicast management protocols used for host registration management and multicast routing protocols used for multicast routing and forwarding.
• Multicast VPN Technology — As VPN technology matures and the demand for multicast services over VPN networks increases, Layer 2 or Layer 3 VPN networks can be constructed via multiple technologies, such as Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), generic routing encapsulation (GRE) and IP security (IPSec).
• Layer 2 Multicast Technologies — The Comware platform implements IGMP and MLD snooping in pure distributed mode and supports a full-range of IPTV features such as multicast VLAN.

Product Support

Support for Layer 2 and 3 Unicast and Multicast Filtering and Routing is available in H3C® routers such as the SR6600*, MSR 50*, MSR 30* and MSR 20* series, as well as in H3C enterprise switches including the S12500*, S9500*, S7500*, S7500E*, S5800*, S5820X*, S5500-EI*, S5500-SI* and S3600-EI series.

*Includes support for both IPv4 and IPv6 Multicast Filtering and Routing