Cisco Systems 3750E manual Msdp Operation, 43-2

Chapter 43 Configuring MSDP

Understanding MSDP

The purpose of this topology is to have domains discover multicast sources in other domains. If the multicast sources are of interest to a domain that has receivers, multicast data is delivered over the normal, source-tree building mechanism in PIM-SM. MSDP is also used to announce sources sending to a group. These announcements must originate at the domain’s RP.

MSDP depends heavily on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) or MBGP for interdomain operation. We recommend that you run MSDP in RPs in your domain that are RPs for sources sending to global groups to be announced to the Internet.

MSDP Operation

Figure 43-1shows MSDP operating between two MSDP peers. PIM uses MSDP as the standard mechanism to register a source with the RP of a domain. When MSDP is configured, this sequence occurs.

When a source sends its first multicast packet, the first-hop router (designated router or RP) directly connected to the source sends a PIM register message to the RP. The RP uses the register message to register the active source and to forward the multicast packet down the shared tree in the local domain. With MSDP configured, the RP also forwards a source-active (SA) message to all MSDP peers. The SA message identifies the source, the group the source is sending to, and the address of the RP or the originator ID (the IP address of the interface used as the RP address), if configured.

Each MSDP peer receives and forwards the SA message away from the originating RP to achieve peer reverse-path flooding (RPF). The MSDP device examines the BGP or MBGP routing table to discover which peer is the next hop toward the originating RP of the SA message. Such a peer is called an RPF peer (reverse-path forwarding peer). The MSDP device forwards the message to all MSDP peers other than the RPF peer. For information on how to configure an MSDP peer when BGP and MBGP are not supported, see the “Configuring a Default MSDP Peer” section on page 43-4.

If the MSDP peer receives the same SA message from a non-RPF peer toward the originating RP, it drops the message. Otherwise, it forwards the message to all its MSDP peers.

The RP for a domain receives the SA message from an MSDP peer. If the RP has any join requests for the group the SA message describes and if the (*,G) entry exists with a nonempty outgoing interface list, the domain is interested in the group, and the RP triggers an (S,G) join toward the source. After the (S,G) join reaches the source’s DR, a branch of the source tree has been built from the source to the RP in the remote domain. Multicast traffic can now flow from the source across the source tree to the RP and then down the shared tree in the remote domain to the receiver.

Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E Switch Software Configuration Guide

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