Requirements for Multicast Protocols
RFC 1458
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RFC - Informational
(May 1993; No errata)
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Robert Braudes
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Steve Zabele
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2013-03-02
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Legacy
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RFC 1458 (Informational)
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Network Working Group R. Braudes
Request for Comments: 1458 S. Zabele
TASC
May 1993
Requirements for Multicast Protocols
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is
unlimited.
Summary
Multicast protocols have been developed over the past several years
to address issues of group communication. Experience has
demonstrated that current protocols do not address all of the
requirements of multicast applications. This memo discusses some of
these unresolved issues, and provides a high-level design for a new
multicast transport protocol, group address and membership authority,
and modifications to existing routing protocols.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. The Image Communication Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Review of Existing Multicast Protocols . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1 IP/Multicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 XTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3 ST-II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.4 MTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. Reliable Adaptive Multicast Service . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.1 The Multicast Group Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.1.1 Address Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.1.2 Service Registration, Requests, Release, and Group
Membership Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 The Reliable Adaptive Multicast Protocol (RAMP) . . . . . 11
4.2.1 Quality of Service Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.2 Error Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.3 Flow Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3 Routing Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.3.1 Path Set-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.3.2 Path Tear-down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Braudes & Zabele [Page 1]
RFC 1458 Requirements for Multicast Protocols May 1993
4.3.3 Multicast Routing Based on Quality of Service . . . . . . 15
4.3.4 Quality of Service Based Packet Loss . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5. Interactions Among the Components: An Example . . . . . . 15
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1. Introduction
Multicast protocols have been developed to support group
communications. These protocols use a one-to-many paradigm for
transmission, typically using class D Internet Protocol (IP)
addresses to specify specific multicast groups. While designing
network services for reliable transmission of very large imagery as
part of the DARPA-sponsored ImNet program, we have reviewed existing
multicast protocols and have determined that none meet all of the
requirements of image communications [3]. This RFC reviews the
current state of multicast protocols, highlights the missing
features, and motivates the design and development of an enhanced
multicast protocol.
First, the requirements for network services and underlying protocols
related to image communications are presented. Existing protocols
are then reviewed, and an analysis of each protocol against the
requirements is presented. The analyses identify the need for a new
multicast protocol. Finally, the features of an ideal reliable
multicast protocol that adapts to network congestion in the
transmission of large data volumes are presented. Additional network
components needed to fully support the new protocol, including a
Multicast Group Authority and modifications to existing routing
protocols, are also introduced.
2. The Image Communications Problem
2.1 Scope
Image management and communications systems are evolving from film-
based systems toward an all-digital environment where imagery is
acquired, transmitted, analyzed, and stored using digital computer
and communications technologies. The throughput required for
communicating large numbers of very large images is extremely large,
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