Multicast addresses, Ip multicast addresses – H3C Technologies H3C S5120 Series Switches User Manual

Page 301

Advertising
background image

1-7

Multicast Addresses

To allow communication between multicast sources and multicast group members, network-layer

multicast addresses, namely, multicast IP addresses must be provided. In addition, a technique must be

available to map multicast IP addresses to link-layer multicast MAC addresses.

IP multicast addresses

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigned the Class D address space (224.0.0.0 to

239.255.255.255) for IPv4 multicast. The specific address blocks and usages are shown in

Table 1-2

.

Table 1-2 Class D IP address blocks and description

Address block

Description

224.0.0.0 to 224.0.0.255

Reserved permanent group addresses. The IP address
224.0.0.0 is reserved, and other IP addresses can be used
by routing protocols and for topology searching, protocol
maintenance, and so on. Common permanent group
addresses are listed in

Table 1-3

. A packet destined for an

address in this block will not be forwarded beyond the local
subnet regardless of the Time to Live (TTL) value in the IP
header.

224.0.1.0 to 238.255.255.255

Globally scoped group addresses. This block includes two
types of designated group addresses:

z

232.0.0.0/8: SSM group addresses, and

z

233.0.0.0/8: Glop group addresses.

239.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255

Administratively scoped multicast addresses. These
addresses are considered to be locally rather than globally
unique, and can be reused in domains administered by
different organizations without causing conflicts. For details,
refer to RFC 2365.

z

The membership of a group is dynamic. Hosts can join or leave multicast groups at any time.

z

“Glop” is a mechanism for assigning multicast addresses between different autonomous systems

(ASs). By filling an AS number into the middle two bytes of 233.0.0.0, you get 255 multicast

addresses for that AS. For more information, refer to RFC 2770.

Table 1-3 Some reserved multicast addresses

Address

Description

224.0.0.1

All systems on this subnet, including hosts and routers

224.0.0.2

All multicast routers on this subnet

224.0.0.3 Unassigned

224.0.0.4

Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) routers

224.0.0.5

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routers

224.0.0.6

OSPF designated routers/backup designated routers

Advertising