A Lightweight Protocol for Multipoint Connections under Link-State Routing.
Yih Huang, Philip K. McKinley · 1996
In this paper, we propose a protocol for the construction and maintenance of multipoint connections (MCs). The protocol is based on link-state routing: information regarding multipoint connections is broadcast to network switches, which perform all computations locally. The protocol is generic in that it can be used with MCs of different types, including symmetric MCs, receiveronly MCs, and asymmetric MCs. Results of a simulation study show that this generality can be achieved with negligible (in normal traffic periods) to moderate (in very busy periods) signaling overhead. 1 Introduction A multipoint connection (MC) is a network entity that defines the routing of data packets among participants in a multi-party conversation. The growing importance of multipoint connections in computer networking and telecommunications is demonstrated by several recent developments, including wide use and distribution of IP-multicast [1] and related protocols [2], the addition of multicast extensions ...