Ever since you picked up your first CCNA book, you've heard about multicasting, gotten a fair idea of what it is, and you've memorized a couple of reserved multicasting addresses. Now as you prepare to pass the BCMSN exam and become a CCNP, you've got to take that knowledge to the next level and gain a true understanding of multicasting. Those of you with an eye on the CCIE will truly have to become multicasting experts!
Having said that, we're going to briefly review the basics of multicasting first, and then future tutorials will look at the different ways in which multicasting can be configured on Cisco routers and switches.
What Is Multicasting?
A unicast is data that is sent from one host to another, while a broadcast is data sent from a host that is destined for "all" host addresses. By "all", we can mean all hosts on a subnet, or truly all hosts on a network.
There's a quite a bit of a middle ground there! A multicast is that middle ground, as a multicast is data that is sent to a logical group of hosts, called a multicast group. Hosts that are not part of the multicast group will not receive the data.
Some other basic multicasting facts:
There's no limit on how many multicast groups a single host can belong to.
The sender is usually unaware of what host devices belong to the multicast group.
Multicast traffic is unidirectional. If the members of the multicast group need to respond, that reply will generally be a unicast.
The range of IP addresses reserved for multicasting is the Class D range, 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255.
That range contains a couple of other reserved address ranges.
224.0.0.0 - 224.0.0.255 is reserved for network protocols only on a local network segment. Packets in this range will not be forwarded by routers, so these packets cannot leave the segment.
Just as Class A, Class B, and Class C networks have private address ranges, so does Class D. The Class D private address range is 239.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255. Like the other private ranges, these addresses can't be routed, so they can be reused from one network to another.
The remaining addresses fall between 224.0.1.0 and 238.255.255.255. That's the "normal" range of multicast addresses. These addresses can be routed, so they must be unique and should not be duplicated from one network to the next.
In my next BCMSN / CCNP multicasting tutorial, we'll take a look at the different ways in which Cisco routers and switches interact to forward multicast traffic.
In this section, you're going to be reintroduced to a networking model you first saw in your CCNA studies. No, it's not the OSI model or the TCP/IP model - it's the Cisco Three-Layer Hierarchical Model. Let's face it, just about all you had to do for the CCNA was memorize the three layers and the order they were found in that model, but the stakes are raised here in your CCNP studies. You need to know what each layer does, and what each layer should not be doing. This is vital information for your real-world network career as well, so let's get started with a review of the Cisco three-layer model, and then we'll take a look at each layer's tasks. Most of the considerations at each layer are common sense, but we'll go over them anyway!
Today we'll take a look at the core layer of the Cisco model.
The term core switches refers to any switches found here. Switches at the core layer allow switches at the distribution layer to communicate, and this is more than a full-time job. It's vital to keep any extra workload off the core switches, and allow them to do what they need to do - switch! The core layer is the backbone of your entire network, so we're interested in high-speed data transfer and very low latency - that's it!
Core layer switches are usually the most powerful in your network, capable of higher throughput than any other switches in the network. Remember, everything we do on a Cisco router or switch has a cost in CPU or memory, so we're going to leave most frame manipulation and filtering to other layers. The exception is Cisco QoS, or Quality of Service. QoS is generally performed at the core layer. We'll go into much more detail regarding QoS in another tutorial, but for now, know that QoS is basically high-speed queuing where special consideration can be given to certain data in certain queues. (You'll soon find that this is a very basic definition!)
We always want redundancy, but you want a lot of redundancy in your core layer. This is the nerve center of your entire network, so fault tolerance needs to be as high as you can possibly get it. Root bridges should also be located in the core layer.
The importance of keeping unnecessary workload off your core switches cannot be overstated. In the next part of this BCMSN tutorial, we'll take a look at how the other layers of the Cisco three-part model do just that.
Chris Bryant has sinced written about articles on various topics from CISCO CCNA, Personal Desktop and Cisco CCNP. Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study P. Chris Bryant's top article generates over 27100 views. Bookmark Chris Bryant to your Favourites.