Configuring Transparent Bridging
Tuning the Transparently Bridged Network
BC-61
Cisco IOS Bridging and IBM Networking Configuration Guide
To define a circuit group, use the following command in interface configuration mode:
For circuit groups of mixed-bandwidth serial interfaces, it might be necessary to configure a pause
interval during which transmission is suspended to avoid misordering packets following changes in the
composition of a circuit group. Changes in the composition of a circuit group include the addition or
deletion of an interface and interface state changes. To configure a transmission pause interval, use the
following command in global configuration mode:
For applications that depend on the ordering of mixed unicast and multicast traffic from a given source,
load distribution must be based upon the source MAC address only. To modify the load distribution
strategy to accommodate such applications, use the following command in global configuration mode:
For an example of how to configure a circuit group, see the “Complex Transparent Bridging Network
Topology Example” section later in this chapter.
Configuring Constrained Multicast Flooding
In a transparent bridge, multicast packets are flooded on all forwarding ports on the bridge. For some
protocols, it is possible for a bridge to determine the membership of multicast groups, and constrain the
flooding of multicasts to a subset of the forwarding ports. Constrained multicast flooding enables a
bridge to determine group membership of IP multicast groups dynamically and flood multicast packets
only on those ports that reach group members.
To enable constrained multicast flooding, use the following command in global configuration mode:
Command Purpose
bridge-group bridge-group circuit-group
circuit-group
Adds a serial interface to a circuit group.
Command Purpose
bridge bridge-group circuit-group
circuit-group pause milliseconds
Configures a transmission pause interval.
Command Purpose
bridge bridge-group circuit-group
circuit-group source-based
Distributes base load on the source MAC address only.
Command Purpose
bridge cmf Enables constrained multicast flooding for all configured bridge
groups.