Sparse mode

Initially, all candidate BSRs in a PIM domain exchange bootstrap messages to select one BSR to which each RP sends the multicast address or addresses of the multicast group(s) that it can service. The selected BSR chooses one RP per multicast group and makes this information available to all of the PIM routers in the domain through bootstrap messages. PIM routers use the information to build packet distribution trees, which map each multicast group to a specific RP. Packet distribution trees may also contain information about the sources and receivers associated with particular multicast groups.

When a FortiGate unit interface is configured as a multicast interface, sparse mode is enabled on it by default to ensure that distribution trees are not built unless at least one downstream receiver requests multicast traffic from a specific source. If the sources of multicast traffic and their receivers are close to each other and the PIM domain contains a dense population of active receivers, you may choose to enable dense mode throughout the PIM domain instead.

An RP represents the root of a non-source-specific distribution tree to a multicast group. By joining and pruning the information contained in distribution trees, a single stream of multicast packets (for example, a video feed) originating from the source can be forwarded to a certain RP to reach a multicast destination.

Each PIM router maintains a Multicast Routing Information Base (MRIB) that determines to which neighboring PIM router join and prune messages are sent. An MRIB contains reverse-path information that reveals the path of a multicast packet from its source to the PIM router that maintains the MRIB.

To send multicast traffic, a server application sends IP traffic to a multicast group address. The locally elected DR registers the sender with the RP that is associated with the target multicast group. The RP uses its MRIB to forward a single stream of IP packets from the source to the members of the multicast group. The IP packets are replicated only when necessary to distribute the data to branches of the RP’s distribution tree.

To receive multicast traffic, a client application can use Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 1 (RFC 1112), 2 (RFC 2236), or 3 (RFC 3376) control messages to request the traffic for a particular multicast group. The locally elected DR receives the request and adds the host to the multicast group that is associated with the connected network segment by sending a join message towards the RP for the group. Afterward, the DR queries the hosts on the connected network segment continually to determine whether the hosts are active. When the DR no longer receives confirmation that at least one member of the multicast group is still active, the DR sends a prune message towards the RP for the group.

FortiOS supports PIM sparse mode multicast routing for IPv6 multicast (multicast6) traffic and is compliant with RFC 4601: Protocol Independent Multicast – Sparse Mode (PIM-SM). You can use the following command to configure IPv6 PIM sparse multicast routing.

config router multicast6

set multicast-routing {enable | disable}

config interface

edit <interface-name>

set hello-interval <1-65535 seconds>

set hello-holdtime <1-65535 seconds>

end

config pim-sm-global config rp-address

edit <index>

set ipv6-address <ipv6-address>

end

The following diagnose commands for IPv6 PIM sparse mode are also available:

diagnose ipv6 multicast status diagnose ipv6 multicast vif diagnose ipv6 multicast mroute