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rfc:rfc2117

Network Working Group D. Estrin Request for Comments: 2117 USC Category: Experimental D. Farinacci

                                                               CISCO
                                                            A. Helmy
                                                                 USC
                                                           D. Thaler
                                                               UMICH
                                                          S. Deering
                                                               XEROX
                                                          M. Handley
                                                                 UCL
                                                         V. Jacobson
                                                                 LBL
                                                              C. Liu
                                                                 USC
                                                           P. Sharma
                                                                 USC
                                                              L. Wei
                                                               CISCO
                                                           June 1997
   Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol
                           Specification

Status of This Memo

 This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
 community.  This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any
 kind.  Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
 Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Acknowledgements

 The author list has been reordered to reflect the involvement in
 detailed editorial work on this specification document.  The first
 four authors are the primary editors and are listed alphabetically.
 The rest of the authors, also listed alphabetically, participated in
 all aspects of the architectural and detailed design but managed to
 get away without hacking the latex!

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 1] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

1 Introduction

 This document describes a protocol for efficiently routing to
 multicast groups that may span wide-area (and inter-domain)
 internets.  We refer to the approach as Protocol Independent
 Multicast--Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) because it is not dependent on any
 particular unicast routing protocol, and because it is designed to
 support sparse groups as defined in [1][2]. This document describes
 the protocol details.  For the motivation behind the design and a
 description of the architecture, see [1][2]. Section 2 summarizes
 PIM-SM operation.  It describes the protocol from a network
 perspective, in particular, how the participating routers interact to
 create and maintain the multicast distribution tree.  Section 3
 describes PIM-SM operations from the perspective of a single router
 implementing the protocol; this section constitutes the main body of
 the protocol specification.  It is organized according to PIM-SM
 message type; for each message type we describe its contents, its
 generation, and its processing.
 Sections 3.8 and 3.9 summarize the timers and flags referred to
 throughout this document. Section 4 provides packet format details.
 The most significant functional changes since the January '95 version
 involve the Rendezvous Point-related mechanisms, several resulting
 simplifications to the protocol, and removal of the PIM-DM protocol
 details to a separate document [3] (for clarity).

2 PIM-SM Protocol Overview

 In this section we provide an overview of the architectural
 components of PIM-SM.
 A router receives explicit Join/Prune messages from those neighboring
 routers that have downstream group members. The router then forwards
 data packets addressed to a multicast group, G, only onto those
 interfaces on which explicit joins have been received. Note that all
 routers mentioned in this document are assumed to be PIM-SM capable,
 unless otherwise specified.
 A Designated Router (DR) sends periodic Join/Prune messages toward a
 group-specific Rendezvous Point (RP) for each group for which it has
 active members. Each router along the path toward the RP builds a
 wildcard (any-source) state for the group and sends Join/Prune
 messages on toward the RP. We use the term route entry to refer to
 the state maintained in a router to represent the distribution tree.
 A route entry may include such fields as the source address, the
 group address, the incoming interface from which packets are
 accepted, the list of outgoing interfaces to which packets are sent,

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 2] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 timers, flag bits, etc. The wildcard route entry's incoming interface
 points toward the RP; the outgoing interfaces point to the
 neighboring downstream routers that have sent Join/Prune messages
 toward the RP. This state creates a shared, RP-centered, distribution
 tree that reaches all group members. When a data source first sends
 to a group, its DR unicasts Register messages to the RP with the
 source's data packets encapsulated within. If the data rate is high,
 the RP can send source-specific Join/Prune messages back towards the
 source and the source's data packets will follow the resulting
 forwarding state and travel unencapsulated to the RP.  Whether they
 arrive encapsulated or natively, the RP forwards the source's
 decapsulated data packets down the RP-centered distribution tree
 toward group members.  If the data rate warrants it, routers with
 local receivers can join a source-specific, shortest path,
 distribution tree, and prune this source's packets off of the shared
 RP-centered tree. For low data rate sources, neither the RP, nor
 last-hop routers need join a source-specific shortest path tree and
 data packets can be delivered via the shared, RP-tree.
 The following subsections describe SM operation in more detail, in
 particular, the control messages, and the actions they trigger.

2.1 Local hosts joining a group

 In order to join a multicast group, G, a host conveys its membership
 information through the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), as
 specified in [4][5], (see figure 1).  From this point on we refer to
 such a host as a receiver, R, (or member) of the group G.
 Note that all figures used in this section are for illustration and
 are not intended to be complete. For complete and detailed protocol
 action see Section 3.
    [Figures are present only in the postscript version]
    Fig. 1  Example: how a receiver joins, and sets up shared tree
 When a DR (e.g., router A in figure 1) gets a membership indication
 from IGMP for a new group, G, the DR looks up the associated RP. The
 DR creates a wildcard multicast route entry for the group, referred
 to here as a (*,G) entry; if there is no more specific match for a
 particular source, the packet will be forwarded according to this
 entry.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 3] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 The RP address is included in a special field in the route entry and
 is included in periodic upstream Join/Prune messages. The outgoing
 interface is set to that included in the IGMP membership indication
 for the new member.  The incoming interface is set to the interface
 used to send unicast packets to the RP.
 When there are no longer directly connected members for the group,
 IGMP notifies the DR.  If the DR has neither local members nor
 downstream receivers, the (*,G) state is deleted.

2.2 Establishing the RP-rooted shared tree

 Triggered by the (*,G) state, the DR creates a Join/Prune message
 with the RP address in its join list and the the wildcard bit (WC-
 bit) and RP-tree bit (RPT-bit) set to 1. The WC-bit indicates that
 any source may match and be forwarded according to this entry if
 there is no longer match; the RPT-bit indicates that this join is
 being sent up the shared, RP-tree. The prune list is left empty. When
 the RPT-bit is set to 1 it indicates that the join is associated with
 the shared RP-tree and therefore the Join/Prune message is propagated
 along the RP-tree. When the WC-bit is set to 1 it indicates that the
 address is an RP and the downstream receivers expect to receive
 packets from all sources via this (shared tree) path. The term RPT-
 bit is used to refer to both the RPT-bit flags associated with route
 entries, and the RPT-bit included in each encoded address in a
 Join/Prune message.
 Each upstream router creates or updates its multicast route entry for
 (*,G) when it receives a Join/Prune with the RPT-bit and WC-bit set.
 The interface on which the Join/Prune message arrived is added to the
 list of outgoing interfaces (oifs) for (*,G). Based on this entry
 each upstream router between the receiver and the RP sends a
 Join/Prune message in which the join list includes the RP. The packet
 payload contains Multicast-Address=G, Join=RP,WC-bit,RPT-bit,
 Prune=NULL.

2.3 Hosts sending to a group

 When a host starts sending multicast data packets to a group,
 initially its DR must deliver each packet to the RP for distribution
 down the RP-tree (see figure 2).  The sender's DR initially
 encapsulates each data packet in a Register message and unicasts it
 to the RP for that group. The RP decapsulates each Register message
 and forwards the enclosed data packet natively to downstream members
 on the shared RP-tree.
    [Figures are present only in the postscript version]
    Fig. 2  Example: a host sending to a group

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 4] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 If the data rate of the source warrants the use of a source-specific
 shortest path tree (SPT), the RP may construct a new multicast route
 entry that is specific to the source, hereafter referred to as (S,G)
 state, and send periodic Join/Prune messages toward the source. Note
 that over time, the rules for when to switch can be modified without
 global coordination.  When and if the RP does switch to the SPT, the
 routers between the source and the RP build and maintain (S,G) state
 in response to these messages and send (S,G) messages upstream toward
 the source.
 The source's DR must stop encapsulating data packets in Registers
 when (and so long as) it receives Register-Stop messages from the RP.
 The RP triggers Register-Stop messages in response to Registers, if
 the RP has no downstream receivers for the group (or for that
 particular source), or if the RP has already joined the (S,G) tree
 and is receiving the data packets natively.  Each source's DR
 maintains, per (S,G), a Register-Suppression-timer.  The Register-
 Suppression-timer is started by the Register-Stop message; upon
 expiration, the source's DR resumes sending data packets to the RP,
 encapsulated in Register messages.

2.4 Switching from shared tree (RP-tree) to shortest path tree (SP-

    tree)
 A router with directly-connected members first joins the shared RP-
 tree.  The router can switch to a source's shortest path tree (SP-
 tree) after receiving packets from that source over the shared RP-
 tree. The recommended policy is to initiate the switch to the SP-tree
 after receiving a significant number of data packets during a
 specified time interval from a particular source. To realize this
 policy the router can monitor data packets from sources for which it
 has no source-specific multicast route entry and initiate such an
 entry when the data rate exceeds the configured threshold.  As shown
 in figure 3, router `A' initiates a (S,G) state.
    [Figures are present only in the postscript version]
    Fig. 3  Example: Switching from shared tree to shortest path tree
 When a (S,G) entry is activated (and periodically so long as the
 state exists), a Join/Prune message is sent upstream towards the
 source, S, with S in the join list. The payload contains Multicast-
 Address=G, Join=S, Prune=NULL. When the (S,G) entry is created, the
 outgoing interface list is copied from (*,G), i.e., all local shared
 tree branches are replicated in the new shortest path tree. In this
 way when a data packet from S arrives and matches on this entry, all
 receivers will continue to receive the source's packets along this
 path. (In more complicated scenarios, other entries in the router
 have to be considered, as described in Section 3). Note that (S,G)

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 5] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 state must be maintained in each last-hop router that is responsible
 for initiating and maintaining an SP-tree. Even when (*,G) and (S,G)
 overlap, both states are needed to trigger the source-specific
 Join/Prune messages.  (S,G) state is kept alive by data packets
 arriving from that source. A timer, Entry-timer, is set for the (S,G)
 entry and this timer is restarted whenever data packets for (S,G) are
 forwarded out at least one oif, or Registers are sent.  When the
 Entry-timer expires, the state is deleted. The last-hop router is the
 router that delivers the packets to their ultimate end-system
 destination.  This is the router that monitors if there is group
 membership and joins or prunes the appropriate distribution trees in
 response.  In general the last-hop router is the Designated Router
 (DR) for the LAN. However, under various conditions described later,
 a parallel router connected to the same LAN may take over as the
 last-hop router in place of the DR.
 Only the RP and routers with local members can initiate switching to
 the SP-tree; intermediate routers do not. Consequently, last-hop
 routers create (S,G) state in response to data packets from the
 source, S; whereas intermediate routers only create (S,G) state in
 response to Join/Prune messages from downstream that have S in the
 Join list.
 The (S,G) entry is initialized with the SPT-bit cleared, indicating
 that the shortest path tree branch from S has not yet been setup
 completely, and the router can still accept packets from S that
 arrive on the (*,G) entry's indicated incoming interface (iif). Each
 PIM multicast entry has an associated incoming interface on which
 packets are expected to arrive.
 When a router with a (S,G) entry and a cleared SPT-bit starts to
 receive packets from the new source S on the iif for the (S,G) entry,
 and that iif differs from the (*,G) entry's iif, the router sets the
 SPT-bit, and sends a Join/Prune message towards the RP, indicating
 that the router no longer wants to receive packets from S via the
 shared RP-tree. The Join/Prune message sent towards the RP includes S
 in the prune list, with the RPT-bit set indicating that S's packets
 must not be forwarded down this branch of the shared tree. If the
 router receiving the Join/Prune message has (S,G) state (with or
 without the route entry's RPT-bit flag set), it deletes the arriving
 interface from the (S,G) oif list.  If the router has only (*,G)
 state, it creates an entry with the RPT-bit flag set to 1. For

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 6] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 brevity we refer to an (S,G) entry that has the RPT-bit flag set to 1
 as an (S,G)RPT-bit entry. This notational distinction is useful to
 point out the different actions taken for (S,G) entries depending on
 the setting of the RPT-bit flag. Note that a router can have no more
 than one active (S,G) entry for any particular S and G, at any
 particular time; whether the RPT-bit flag is set or not. In other
 words, a router never has both an (S,G) and an (S,G)RPT-bit entry for
 the same S and G at the same time. The Join/Prune message payload
 contains Multicast-Address=G, Join=NULL, Prune=S,RPT-bit.
 A new receiver may join an existing RP-tree on which source-specific
 prune state has been established (e.g., because downstream receivers
 have switched to SP-trees). In this case the prune state must be
 eradicated upstream of the new receiver to bring all sources' data
 packets down to the new receiver.  Therefore, when a (*,G) Join
 arrives at a router that has any (Si,G)RPT-bit entries (i.e., entries
 that cause the router to send source-specific prunes toward the RP),
 these entries must be updated upstream of the router so as to bring
 all sources' packets down to the new member. To accomplish this, each
 router that receives a (*,G) Join/Prune message updates all existing
 (S,G)RPT-bit entries. The router may also trigger a (*,G) Join/Prune
 message upstream to cause the same updating of RPT-bit settings
 upstream and pull down all active sources' packets. If the arriving
 (*,G) join has some sources included in its prune list, then the
 corresponding (S,G)RPT-bit entries are left unchanged (i.e., the
 RPT-bit remains set and no oif is added).

2.5 Steady state maintenance of distribution tree (i.e., router state)

 In the steady state each router sends periodic Join/Prune messages
 for each active PIM route entry; the Join/Prune messages are sent to
 the neighbor indicated in the corresponding entry. These messages are
 sent periodically to capture state, topology, and membership changes.
 A Join/Prune message is also sent on an event-triggered basis each
 time a new route entry is established for some new source (note that
 some damping function may be applied, e.g., a short delay to allow
 for merging of new Join information). Join/Prune messages do not
 elicit any form of explicit acknowledgment; routers recover from lost
 packets using the periodic refresh mechanism.

2.6 Obtaining RP information

 To obtain the RP information, all routers within a PIM domain collect
 Bootstrap messages. Bootstrap messages are sent hop-by-hop within the
 domain; the domain's bootstrap router (BSR) is responsible for
 originating the Bootstrap messages. Bootstrap messages are used to
 carry out a dynamic BSR election when needed and to distribute RP
 information in steady state.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 7] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 A domain in this context is a contiguous set of routers that all
 implement PIM and are configured to operate within a common boundary
 defined by PIM Multicast Border Routers (PMBRs). PMBRs connect each
 PIM domain to the rest of the internet.
 Routers use a set of available RPs (called the {RP-Set}) distributed
 in Bootstrap messages to get the proper Group to RP mapping. The
 following paragraphs summarize the mechanism; details of the
 mechanism may be found in Sections 3.6 and Appendix 6.2. A (small)
 set of routers, within a domain, are configured as candidate BSRs
 and, through a simple election mechanism, a single BSR is selected
 for that domain. A set of routers within a domain are also configured
 as candidate RPs (C-RPs); typically these will be the same routers
 that are configured as C-BSRs.  Candidate RPs periodically unicast
 Candidate-RP-Advertisement messages (C-RP-Advs) to the BSR of that
 domain. C-RP-Advs include the address of the advertising C-RP, as
 well as an optional group address and a mask length field, indicating
 the group prefix(es) for which the candidacy is advertised.  The BSR
 then includes a set of these Candidate-RPs (the RP-Set), along with
 the corresponding group prefixes, in Bootstrap messages it
 periodically originates.  Bootstrap messages are distributed hop-by-
 hop throughout the domain.
 Routers receive and store Bootstrap messages originated by the BSR.
 When a DR gets a membership indication from IGMP for (or a data
 packet from) a directly connected host, for a group for which it has
 no entry, the DR uses a hash function to map the group address to one
 of the C-RPs whose Group-prefix includes the group (see Section 3.7).
 The DR then sends a Join/Prune message towards (or unicasts Registers
 to) that RP.
 The Bootstrap message indicates liveness of the RPs included therein.
 If an RP is included in the message, then it is tagged as `up' at the
 routers; while RPs not included in the message are removed from the
 list of RPs over which the hash algorithm acts. Each router continues
 to use the contents of the most recently received Bootstrap message
 until it receives a new Bootstrap message.
 If a PIM domain partitions, each area separated from the old BSR will
 elect its own BSR, which will distribute an RP-Set containing RPs
 that are reachable within that partition. When the partition heals,
 another election will occur automatically and only one of the BSRs
 will continue to send out Bootstrap messages. As is expected at the
 time of a partition or healing, some disruption in packet delivery
 may occur.  This time will be on the order of the region's round-trip
 time and the bootstrap router timeout value.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 8] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

2.7 Interoperation with dense mode protocols such as DVMRP

 In order to interoperate with networks that run dense-mode,
 {broadcast and prune}, protocols, such as DVMRP, all packets
 generated within a PIM-SM region must be pulled out to that region's
 PIM Multicast Border Routers (PMBRs) and injected (i.e., broadcast)
 into the DVMRP network.  A PMBR is a router that sits at the boundary
 of a PIM-SM domain and interoperates with other types of multicast
 routers such as those that run DVMRP.  Generally a PMBR would speak
 both protocols and implement interoperability functions not required
 by regular PIM routers. To support interoperability, a special entry
 type, referred to as (*,*,RP), must be supported by all PIM routers.
 For this reason we include details about (*,*,RP) entry handling in
 this general PIM specification.
 A data packet will match on a (*,*,RP) entry if there is no more
 specific entry (such as (S,G) or (*,G)) and the destination group
 address in the packet maps to the RP listed in the (*,*,RP) entry. In
 this sense, a (*,*,RP) entry represents an aggregation of all the
 groups that hash to that RP. PMBRs initialize (*,*,RP) state for each
 RP in the domain's RPset. The (*,*,RP) state causes the PMBRs to send
 (*,*,RP) Join/Prune messages toward each of the active RPs in the
 domain.  As a result distribution trees are built that carry all data
 packets originated within the PIM domain (and sent to the RPs) down
 to the PMBRs.
 PMBRs are also responsible for delivering externally-generated
 packets to routers within the PIM domain. To do so, PMBRs initially
 encapsulate externally-originated packets (i.e., received on DVMRP
 interfaces) in Register messages and unicast them to the
 corresponding RP within the PIM domain. The Register message has a
 bit indicating that it was originated by a border router and the RP
 caches the originating PMBR's address in the route entry so that
 duplicate Registers from other PMBRs can be declined with a
 Register-Stop message.
 All PIM routers must be capable of supporting (*,*,RP) state and
 interpreting associated Join/Prune messages. We describe the handling
 of (*,*,RP) entries and messages throughout this document; however,
 detailed PIM Multicast Border Router (PMBR) functions will be
 specified in a separate interoperability document (see directory,
 http://catarina.usc.edu/pim/interop/).

2.8 Multicast data packet processing

 Data packets are processed in a manner similar to other multicast
 schemes.  A router first performs a longest match on the source and
 group address in the data packet. A (S,G) entry is matched first if

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 9] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 one exists; a (*,G) entry is matched otherwise. If neither state
 exists, then a (*,*,RP) entry match is attempted as follows: the
 router hashes on G to identify the RP for group G, and looks for a
 (*,*,RP) entry that has this RP address associated with it.  If none
 of the above exists, then the packet is dropped. If a state is
 matched, the router compares the interface on which the packet
 arrived to the incoming interface field in the matched route entry.
 If the iif check fails the packet is dropped, otherwise the packet is
 forwarded to all interfaces listed in the outgoing interface list.
 Some special actions are needed to deliver packets continuously while
 switching from the shared to shortest-path tree. In particular, when
 a (S,G) entry is matched, incoming packets are forwarded as follows:
    1    If the SPT-bit is set, then:
         1    if the incoming interface is the same as a matching
              (S,G) iif, the packet is forwarded to the oif-list of
              (S,G).
         2    if the incoming interface is different than a matching
              (S,G) iif , the packet is discarded.
    2    If the SPT-bit is cleared, then:
         1    if the incoming interface is the same as a matching
              (S,G) iif, the packet is forwarded to the oif-list of
              (S,G). In addition, the SPT bit is set for that entry
              if the incoming interface differs from the incoming
              interface of the (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry.
         2    if the incoming interface is different than a matching
              (S,G) iif, the incoming interface is tested against a
              matching (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry. If the iif is the
              same as one of those, the packet is forwarded to the
              oif-list of the matching entry.
         3    Otherwise the iif does not match any entry for G and
              the packet is discarded.
 Data packets never trigger prunes.  However, data packets may trigger
 actions that in turn trigger prunes. For example, when router B in
 figure 3 decides to switch to SP-tree at step 3, it creates a (S,G)
 entry with SPT-bit set to 0. When data packets from S arrive at

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 10] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 interface 2 of B, B sets the SPT-bit to 1 since the iif for (*,G) is
 different than that for (S,G). This triggers the sending of prunes
 towards the RP.

2.9 Operation over Multi-access Networks

 This section describes a few additional protocol mechanisms needed to
 operate PIM over multi-access networks: Designated Router election,
 Assert messages to resolve parallel paths, and the Join/Prune-
 Suppression-Timer to suppress redundant Joins on multi-access
 networks.
  • Designated router election
 When there are multiple routers connected to a multi-access network,
 one of them must be chosen to operate as the designated router (DR)
 at any point in time.  The DR is responsible for sending triggered
 Join/Prune and Register messages toward the RP.
 A simple designated router (DR) election mechanism is used for both
 SM and traditional IP multicast routing.  Neighboring routers send
 Hello messages to each other. The sender with the largest IP address
 assumes the role of DR. Each router connected to the multi-access LAN
 sends the Hellos periodically in order to adapt to changes in router
 status.
  • Parallel paths to a source or the RP–Assert process
 If a router receives a multicast datagram on a multi-access LAN from
 a source whose corresponding (S,G) outgoing interface list includes
 the interface to that LAN, the packet must be a duplicate.  In this
 case a single forwarder must be elected.  Using Assert messages
 addressed to `224.0.0.13' (ALL-PIM-ROUTERS group) on the LAN,
 upstream routers can resolve which one will act as the forwarder.
 Downstream routers listen to the Asserts so they know which one was
 elected, and therefore where to send subsequent Joins. Typically this
 is the same as the downstream router's RPF (Reverse Path Forwarding)
 neighbor; but there are circumstances where this might not be the
 case, e.g., when using multiple unicast routing protocols on that
 LAN. The RPF neighbor for a particular source (or RP) is the next-hop
 router to which packets are forwarded en route to that source (or
 RP); and therefore is considered a good path via which to accept
 packets from that source.
 The upstream router elected is the one that has the shortest distance
 to the source. Therefore, when a packet is received on an outgoing
 interface a router sends an Assert message on the multi-access LAN
 indicating what metric it uses to reach the source of the data

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 11] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 packet.  The router with the smallest numerical metric (with ties
 broken by highest address) will become the forwarder. All other
 upstream routers will delete the interface from their outgoing
 interface list. The downstream routers also do the comparison in case
 the forwarder is different than the RPF neighbor.
 Associated with the metric is a metric preference value. This is
 provided to deal with the case where the upstream routers may run
 different unicast routing protocols. The numerically smaller metric
 preference is always preferred. The metric preference is treated as
 the high-order part of an assert metric comparison.  Therefore, a
 metric value can be compared with another metric value provided both
 metric preferences are the same.  A metric preference can be assigned
 per unicast routing protocol and needs to be consistent for all
 routers on the multi-access network.
 Asserts are also needed for (*,G) entries since an RP-Tree and an
 SP-Tree for the same group may both cross the same multi- access
 network. When an assert is sent for a (*,G) entry, the first bit in
 the metric preference (RPT-bit) is always set to 1 to indicate that
 this path corresponds to the RP tree, and that the match must be done
 on (*,G) if it exists. Furthermore, the RPT-bit is always cleared for
 metric preferences that refer to SP-tree entries; this causes an SP-
 tree path to always look better than an RP-tree path. When the SP-
 tree and RPtree cross the same LAN, this mechanism eliminates the
 duplicates that would otherwise be carried over the LAN.
 In case the packet, or the Assert message, matches  on  oif  for
 (*,*,RP) entry, a (*,G) entry is created, and asserts take place as
 if the matching state were (*,G).
 The DR may lose the (*,G) Assert process to another router on the LAN
 if there are multiple paths to the RP through the LAN.  From then on,
 the DR is no longer the last-hop router for local receivers and
 removes the LAN from its (*,G) oif list. The winning router becomes
 the last-hop router and is responsible for sending (*,G) join
 messages to the RP.
  • Join/Prune suppression
 Join/Prune suppression may be used on multi-access LANs to reduce
 duplicate control message overhead; it is not required for correct
 performance of the protocol. If a Join/Prune message arrives and
 matches on the incoming interface for an existing (S,G), (*,G), or
 (*,*,RP) route entry, and the Holdtime included in the Join/Prune
 message is greater than the recipient's own [Join/Prune-Holdtime]
 (with ties resolved in favor of the higher IP address), a timer (the
 Join/Prune-Suppression-timer) in the recipient's route entry may be

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 12] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 started to suppress further Join/Prune messages.  After this timer
 expires, the recipient triggers a Join/Prune message, and resumes
 sending periodic Join/Prunes, for this entry. The Join/Prune-
 Suppression-timer should be restarted each time a Join/Prune message
 is received with a higher Holdtime.

2.10 Unicast Routing Changes

 When unicast routing changes, an RPF check is done on all active
 (S,G), (*,G) and (*,*,RP) entries, and all affected expected incoming
 interfaces are updated.  In particular, if the new incoming interface
 appears in the outgoing interface list, it is deleted from the
 outgoing interface list. The previous incoming interface may be added
 to the outgoing interface list by a subsequent Join/Prune from
 downstream.  Join/Prune messages received on the current incoming
 interface are ignored.  Join/Prune messages received on new
 interfaces or existing outgoing interfaces are not ignored. Other
 outgoing interfaces are left as is until they are explicitly pruned
 by downstream routers or are timed out due to lack of appropriate
 Join/Prune messages. If the router has a (S,G) entry with the SPT-bit
 set, and the updated iif(S,G) does not differ from iif(*,G) or
 iif(*,*,RP), then the router resets the SPT-bit.
 The router must send a Join/Prune message with S in the Join list out
 any new incoming interfaces to inform upstream routers that it
 expects multicast datagrams over the interface.  It may also send a
 Join/Prune message with S in the Prune list out the old incoming
 interface, if the link is operational, to inform upstream routers
 that this part of the distribution tree is going away.

2.11 PIM-SM for Inter-Domain Multicast

 Future documents will address the use of PIM-SM as a backbone inter-
 domain multicast routing protocol. Design choices center primarily
 around the distribution and usage of RP information for wide area,
 inter-domain groups.

2.12 Security

 All PIM control messages may use IPsec [6] to address security
 concerns.  Security mechanisms are likely to be enhanced in the near
 future.

3 Detailed Protocol Description

 This section describes the protocol operations from the perspective
 of an individual router implementation.  In particular, for each
 message type we describe how it is generated and processed.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 13] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

3.1 Hello

 Hello messages are sent so neighboring routers can discover each
 other.

3.1.1 Sending Hellos

 Hello messages are sent periodically between PIM neighbors, every
 [Hello-Period] seconds.  This informs routers what interfaces have
 PIM neighbors.  Hello messages are multicast using address 224.0.0.13
 (ALL-PIM-ROUTERS group). The packet includes a Holdtime, set to
 [Hello-Holdtime], for neighbors to keep the information valid.
 Hellos are sent on all types of communication links.

3.1.2 Receiving Hellos

 When a router receives a Hello message, it stores the IP address for
 that neighbor, sets its Neighbor-timer for the Hello sender to the
 Holdtime included in the Hello, and determines the Designated Router
 (DR) for that interface.  The highest IP addressed system is elected
 DR. Each Hello received causes the DR's address to be updated.
 When a router that is the active DR receives a Hello from a new
 neighbor (i.e., from an IP address that is not yet in the DRs
 neighbor table), the DR unicasts its most recent RP-set information
 to the new neighbor.

3.1.3 Timing out neighbor entries

 A periodic process is run to time out PIM neighbors that have not
 sent Hellos. If the DR has gone down, a new DR is chosen by scanning
 all neighbors on the interface and selecting the new DR to be the one
 with the highest IP address. If an interface has gone down, the
 router may optionally time out all PIM neighbors associated with the
 interface.

3.2 Join/Prune

 Join/Prune messages are sent to join or prune a branch off of the
 multicast distribution tree. A single message contains both a join
 and prune list, either one of which may be null.  Each list contains
 a set of source addresses, indicating the source- specific trees or
 shared tree that the router wants to join or prune.

3.2.1 Sending Join/Prune Messages

 Join/Prune messages are merged such that a message sent to a
 particular upstream neighbor, N, includes all of the current joined

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 14] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 and pruned sources that are reached via N; according to unicast
 routing Join/Prune messages are multicast to all routers on multi-
 access networks with the target address set to the next hop router
 towards S or RP. Join/Prune messages are sent every [Join/Prune-
 Period] seconds. In the future we will introduce mechanisms to rate-
 limit this control traffic on a hop by hop basis, in order to avoid
 excessive overhead on small links.  In addition, certain events cause
 triggered Join/Prune messages to be sent.

3.2.1.1 Periodic Join/Prune Messages

 A router sends a periodic Join/Prune message to each distinct RPF
 neighbor associated with each (S,G), (*,G) and (*,*,RP) entry.
 Join/Prune messages are only sent if the RPF neighbor is a PIM
 neighbor.  A periodic Join/Prune message sent to a particular RPF
 neighbor is constructed as follows:
 1    Each router determines the RP for a (*,G) entry by using
      the hash function described. The RP address (with RPT and
      WC bits set) is included in the join list of a periodic
      Join/Prune message under the following conditions:
      1    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward the RP for an active (*,G) or (*,*,RP)
           entry, and
      2    The outgoing interface list in the (*,G) or (*,*,RP)
           entry is non-NULL, or the router is the DR on the same
           interface as the RPF neighbor.
 2    A particular source address, S, is included in the join
      list with the RPT and WC bits cleared under the following
      conditions:
      1    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward S, and
      2    There exists an active (S,G) entry with the RPT-bit
           flag cleared, and
      3    The oif list in the (S,G) entry is not null.
 3    A particular source address, S, is included in the prune
      list with the RPT and WC bits cleared under the following
      conditions:
      1    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward S, and

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 15] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      2    There exists an active (S,G) entry with the RPT-bit
           flag cleared, and
      3    The oif list in the (S,G) entry is null.
 4    A particular source address, S, is included in the prune
      list with the RPT-bit set and the WC bit cleared under the
      following conditions:
      1    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward the RP and there exists a (S,G) entry
           with the RPT-bit flag set and null oif list, or
      2    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward the RP, there exists a (S,G) entry
           with the RPT-bit flag cleared and SPT-bit set, and the
           incoming interface toward S is different than the
           incoming interface toward the RP, or
      3    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward the RP, and there exists a (*,G) entry
           and (S,G) entry for a directly connected source.
 5    The RP address (with RPT and WC bits set) is included in
      the prune list if:
      1    The Join/Prune message is being sent to the RPF
           neighbor toward the RP and there exists a (*,G) entry
           with a null oif list (see Section 3.5.2).

3.2.1.2 Triggered Join/Prune Messages

 In addition to periodic messages, the following events will trigger
 Join/Prune messages if as a result, a) a new entry is created, or b)
 the oif list changes from null to non-null or non-null to null. The
 contents of triggered messages are the same as the periodic,
 described above.
 1    Receipt of an indication from IGMP that the state of
      directly-connected- membership has changed (i.e., new members
      have just joined `membership indication' or all members have
      left), for a group G, may cause the last-hop router to build
      or modify corresponding (*,G) state.  When IGMP indicates
      that there are no longer directly connected members, the oif
      is removed from the oif list if the oif- timer is not
      running.  A Join/Prune message is triggered if and only if
      a) a new entry is created, or b) the oif list changes from
      null to non-null or non-null to null, as follows :

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 16] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      1    If the receiving router does not have a route entry
           for G the router creates a (*,G) entry, copies the
           oif list from the corresponding (*,*,RP) entry
           (if it exists), and includes the interface included
           in the IGMP membership indication in the oif list;
           as always, the router never includes the entry's iif
           in the oif list.  The router sends a Join/Prune
           message towards the RP with the RP address and RPT-bit
           and WC-bits set in the join list. Or,
      2    If a (S,G)RPT-bit or (*,G) entry already exists, the
           interface included in the IGMP membership indication
           is added to the oif list (if it was not included already).
 2    Receipt of a Join/Prune message for (S,G), (*,G) or (*,*,RP)
      will cause building or modifying corresponding state, and
      subsequent triggering of upstream Join/Prune messages, in the
      following cases:
      1    When there is no current route entry, the RP address
           included in the Join/Prune message is checked against
           the local RP-Set information. If it matches, an entry
           will be created and the new entry will in turn trigger
           an upstream Join/Prune message. If the router has no
           RP-Set information it may discard the message, or
           optionally use the RP address included in the message.
      2    When the outgoing interface list of an (S,G)RPT-bit
           entry becomes null, the triggered Join/Prune message
           will contain S in the prune list.
      3    When there exists a (S,G)RPT-bit with null oif list,
           and an (*,G) Join/Prune message is received, the
           arriving interface is added to the oif list and a (*,G)
           Join/Prune message is triggered upstream.
      4    When there exists a (*,G) with null oif list, and a
           (*,*,RP) Join/Prune message is received, the receiving
           interface is added to the oif list and a (*,*,RP)
           Join/Prune message is triggered upstream.
 3    Receipt of a packet that matches on a (S,G) entry whose
      SPT-bit is cleared triggers the following if the packet
      arrived on the correct incoming interface and there is a
      (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry with a different incoming
      interface: a) the router sets the SPT-bit on the (S,G)
      entry, and b) the router sends a Join/Prune message
      towards the RP with S and a set RPT-bit in the prune list.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 17] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 4    When a Join/Prune message is received for a group G, the
      prune list is checked. If the prune list contains a source
      or RP for which the receiving router has a corresponding
      active (S,G), (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry, and whose iif is
      that on which the Join/Prune was received, then a join for
      (S,G), (*,G) or (*,*,RP) is triggered to override the prune,
      respectively. (This is necessary in the case of parallel
      downstream routers connected to a multi-access network.)
 5    When the RP fails, the RP will not be included in the
      Bootstrap messages sent to all routers in that domain.
      This triggers the DRs to send (*,G) Join/Prune messages
      towards new RP for the group, as determined by the RP-Set
      and the hash function.  As described earlier, PMBRs trigger
      (*,*,RP) joins towards each RP in the RP-Set.
 6    When an entry's Join/Prune-Suppression timer expires, a
      Join/Prune message is triggered upstream corresponding to
      that entry, even if the outgoing interface has not
      transitioned between null and non-null states.
 7    When the RPF neighbor changes (whether due to an Assert or
      changes in unicast routing), the router sets a random delay
      timer (the Random-Delay-Join-Timer) whose expiration triggers
      sending of a Join/Prune message for the asserted route entry
      to the Assert winner (if the Join/Prune Suppression timer has
      expired.)
 We do not trigger prunes onto interfaces based on data packets.  Data
 packets that arrive on the wrong incoming interface are silently
 dropped.  However, on point-to-point interfaces triggered prunes may
 be sent as an optimization.
 3.2.1.3 Fragmentation: It is possible that a Join/Prune message
 constructed according to the preceding rules could exceed the MTU of
 a network. In this case, the message can undergo semantic
 fragmentation whereby information corresponding to different groups
 can be sent in different messages.  However, if a Join/Prune message
 must be fragmented the complete prune list corresponding to a group G
 must be included in the same Join/Prune message as the associated
 RP-tree Join for G. If such semantic fragmentation is not possible,
 IP fragmentation should be used between the two neighboring hops.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 18] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

3.2.2 Receiving Join/Prune Messages When a router receives a

         Join/Prune message, it processes it as follows.
 The receiver of the Join/Prune notes the interface on which the PIM
 message arrived, call it I. The receiver then checks to see if the
 Join/Prune message was addressed to the receiving router itself
 (i.e., the router's address appears in the Unicast Upstream Neighbor
 Router field of the Join/Prune message).  (If the router is connected
 to a multiaccess LAN, the message could be intended for a different
 router.) If the Join/Prune is for this router the following actions
 are taken.
 For each group address G, in the Join/Prune message, the associated
 join list is processed as follows. We refer to each address in the
 join list as Sj; Sj refers to the RP if the RPT- bit and WC-bit are
 both set. For each Sj in the join list of the Join/Prune message:
 1    If an address, Sj, in the join list of the Join/Prune
      message  has  the RPT-bit and WC-bit set, then Sj is the RP
      address used by the downstream router(s) and the  following
      actions are taken:
      1    If Sj is not the same as the receiving router's RP
           mapping for G, the receiving router may ignore the
           Join/Prune message with respect to that group entry.
           If the router does not have any RP-Set information, it
           may use the address Sj included in the Join/Prune
           message as the RP for the group.
      2    If Sj is the same as the receiving router's RP mapping
           for G, the receiving router adds I to the outgoing
           interface list of the (*,G) route entry (if there is
           no (*,G) entry, the router creates one first) and sets
           the Oif-timer for that interface to the Holdtime
           specified in the Join/Prune message.  In addition, the
           Oif-Deletion-Delay for that interface is set to 1/3rd
           the Holdtime specified in the Join/Prune message.
           If a (*,*,RP) entry exists, for the RP associated with
           G, then the oif list of the newly created (*,G) entry
           is copied from that (*,*,RP) entry.
      3    For each (Si,G) entry associated with group G, if Si
           is not included in the prune list, and if I is not the
           iif then interface I is added to the oif list and the
           Oif-timer for that interface in each affected entry
           is increased (never decreased) to the Holdtime included
           in the Join/Prune message.  In addition, if the

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 19] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

           Oif-timer for that interface is increased, the
           Oif-Deletion-Delay for that interface is set to 1/3rd
           the Holdtime specified in the Join/Prune message.
           If the group address in the Join/Prune message is `*'
           then every (*,G) and (S,G) entry, whose group address
           hashes to the RP indicated in the (*,*,RP) Join/Prune
           message, is updated accordingly. A `*' in the group
           field of the Join/Prune is represented by a group
           address 224.0.0.0 and a group mask length of 4,
           indicating a (*,*,RP) Join.
      4    If the (Si,G) entry has its RPT-bit flag set to 1, and
           its oif list is the same as the (*,G) oif list, then
           the (Si,G)RPT-bit entry is deleted,
      5    The incoming interface is set to the interface used to
           send unicast packets to the RP in the (*,G) route
           entry, i.e., RPF interface toward the RP.
 2    For each address, Sj, in the join list whose RPT-bit and
      WC-bit are not set, and for which there is no existing (Sj,G)
      route entry, the router initiates one.  The router creates a
      (S,G) entry and copies all outgoing interfaces from the
      (S,G)RPT-bit entry, if it exists. If there is no (S,G) entry,
      the oif list is copied from the (*,G) entry; and if there is
      no (*,G) entry, the oif list is copied from the (*,*,RP)
      entry, if it exists.  In all cases, the iif of the (S,G)
      entry is always excluded from the oif list.
      1    The outgoing interface for (Sj,G) is set to I.  The
           incoming interface for (Sj,G) is set to the interface
           used to send unicast packets to Sj (i.e., the RPF
           neighbor).
      2    If the interface used to reach Sj, is the same as I,
           this represents an error (or a unicast routing change)
           and the Join/Prune must not be processed.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 20] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 3    For each address, Sj, in the join list of the Join/Prune
      message, for which there is an existing (Sj,G) route entry,
      1    If the RPT-bit is not set for Sj listed in the
           Join/Prune message, but the RPT-bit flag is set on the
           existing (Sj,G) entry, the router clears the RPT-bit
           flag on the (Sj,G) entry, sets the incoming interface
           to point towards Sj for that (Sj,G) entry, and sends a
           Join/Prune message corresponding to that entry through
           the new incoming interface; and
      2    If I is not the same as the existing incoming
           interface, the router adds I to the list of outgoing
           interfaces.
      3    The Oif-timer for I is increased (never decreased)
           to the Holdtime included in the Join/Prune message.
           In addition, if the Oif-timer for that interface is
           increased, the Oif-Deletion-Delay for that interface
           is set to 1/3rd the Holdtime specified in the
           Join/Prune message.
      4    The (Sj,G) entry's SPT bit is cleared until data comes
           down the shortest path tree.
 For each group address G, in the Join/Prune message, the associated
 prune list is processed as follows. We refer to each address in the
 prune list as Sp; Sp refers to the RP if the RPT-bit and WC-bit are
 both set. For each Sp in the prune list of the Join/Prune message:
 1    For each address, Sp, in the prune list whose RPT-bit and
      WC-bit are cleared:
      1    If there is an existing (Sp,G) route entry, the router
           lowers the Oif-timer for I to its Oif-Deletion-Delay,
           allowing for other downstream routers on a multi-
           access LAN to override the prune. However, on point-
           to-point links, the oif-timer is expired immediately.
      2    If the router has a current (*,G), or (*,*,RP), route
           entry, and if the existing (Sp,G) entry has its RPT-
           bit flag set to 1, then this (Sp,G)RPT-bit entry is
           maintained (not deleted) even if its outgoing
           interface list is null.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 21] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 2    For each address, Sp, in the prune list whose RPT-bit is
      set and whose WC-bit cleared:
      1    If there is an existing (Sp,G) route entry, the router
           lowers the entry's Oif-timer for I to its
           Oif-Deletion-Delay, allowing for other downstream
           routers on a multi- access LAN to override the prune.
           However, on point-to-point links, the oif-timer is
           expired immediately.
      2    If the router has a current (*,G), or (*,*,RP), route
           entry, and if the existing (Sp,G) entry has its
           RPT- bit flag set to 1, then this (Sp,G)RPT-bit entry
           is not deleted, and the Entry-timer is restarted, even
           if its outgoing interface list is null.
      3    If (*,G), or corresponding (*,*,RP), state exists, but
           there is no (Sp,G) entry, an (Sp,G)RPT-bit entry is
           created. The outgoing interface list is copied from the
           (*,G), or (*,*,RP), entry, with the interface, I, on
           which the prune was received, is deleted.  Packets from
           the pruned source, Sp, match on this state and are not
           forwarded toward the pruned receivers.
      4    If there exists a (Sp,G) entry, with or without the
           RPT-bit set, the oif-timer for I is expired, and the
           Entry-timer is restarted.
 3    For each address, Sp, in the prune list whose RPT-bit and
      WC-bit are both set:
      1    If there is an existing (*,G) entry, with Sp as the RP
           for G, the router lowers the entry's Oif-timer for I
           to its Oif-Deletion-Delay, allowing for other
           downstream routers on a multi-access LAN to override the
           prune. However, on point-to-point links, the oif-timer
           is expired immediately.
      2    If the corresponding (*,*,RP) state exists, but there
           is no (*,G) entry, a (*,G) entry is created. The
           outgoing interface list is copied from (*,*,RP) entry,
           with the interface, I, on which the prune was
           received, deleted.
      For any new (S,G), (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry created by an
      incoming Join/Prune message, the SPT-bit is cleared (and if a
      Join/Prune-Suppression timer is used, it is left off.)

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 22] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 If the entry has a Join/Prune-Suppression timer associated with it,
 and if the received Join/Prune does not indicate the router as its
 target, then the receiving router examines the join and prune lists
 to see if any addresses in the list `completely- match' existing
 (S,G), (*,G), or (*,*,RP) state for which the receiving router
 currently schedules Join/Prune messages. An element on the join or
 prune list `completely-matches' a route entry only if both the IP
 addresses and RPT-bit flag are the same. If the incoming Join/Prune
 message completely matches an existing (S,G), (*,G), or (*,*,RP)
 entry and the Join/Prune arrived on the iif for that entry, then the
 router compares the Holdtime included in the Join/Prune message, to
 its own [Join/Prune-Holdtime].  If its own [Join/Prune-Holdtime] is
 lower, the Join/Prune-Suppression-timer is started at the
 [Join/Prune-Suppression-Timeout]. If the [Join/Prune-Holdtime] is
 equal, the tie is resolved in favor of the Join/Prune Message
 originator that has the higher IP address. When the Join/Prune timer
 expires, the router triggers a Join/Prune message for the
 corresponding entry(ies).

3.3 Register and Register-Stop

 When a source first starts sending to a group its packets are
 encapsulated in Register messages and sent to the RP. If the data
 rate warrants source-specific paths, the RP sets up source specific
 state and starts sending (S,G) Join/Prune messages toward the source,
 with S in the join list.

3.3.1 Sending Registers and Receiving Register-Stops

 Register messages are sent as follows:
 1    When a DR receives a packet from a directly connected
      source, S
      1    If there is no corresponding (S,G) entry, and the
           router has RP-Set information, the DR creates one with
           the Register-Suppression-timer turned off and the RP
           address set according to the hash function mapping for
           the corresponding group. The oif list is copied from
           existing (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entries, if they exist. The
           iif of the (S,G) entry is always excluded from the oif
           list.
      2    If there is a (S,G) entry in existence, the DR  simply
           restarts the corresponding Entry-timer.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 23] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      When a PMBR (e.g., a router that connects the PIM-SM region to
      a dense mode region running DVMRP or PIM-DM) receives a packet
      from a source in the dense mode region,  the  router treats  the
      packet as if it were from a directly connected source. A
      separate document will describe  the  details  of
      interoperability.
 2    If the new or previously-existing (S,G) entry's Register-
      Suppression-timer is not running, the data packet is
      encapsulated in a Register message and unicast to the RP
      for that group. The data packet is also forwarded according
      to (S,G) state in the DR if the oif list is not null; since
      a receiver may join the SP-tree while the DR is still
      registering to the RP.
 3    If the (S,G) entry's Register-Suppression-timer is running,
      the data packet is not sent in a Register message, it is
      just forwarded according to the (S,G) oif list.
 When the DR receives a Register-Stop message, it restarts the
 Register-Suppression-timer in the corresponding (S,G) entry(ies) at
 [Register-Suppression-Timeout] seconds. If there is data to be
 registered, the DR may send a null Register (a Register message with
 a zero-length data portion in the inner IP packet) to the RP,
 [Probe-Time] seconds before the Register- Suppression-timer expires,
 to avoid sending occasional bursts of traffic to an RP unnecessarily.

3.3.2 Receiving Register Messages and Sending Register-Stops

 When a router (i.e., the RP) receives a Register message, the router
 does the following:
 1    Decapsulates the data packet, and checks for a
      corresponding (S,G) entry.
      1    If a (S,G) entry with cleared (0) SPT bit exists, and
           the received Register does not have the Null-
           Register-Bit set to 1, the packet is forwarded; and
           the SPT bit is left cleared (0). If the SPT bit is 1,
           the packet is dropped, and Register-Stop messages are
           triggered.  Register-Stops should be rate-limited (in
           an implementation-specific manner) so that no more
           than a few are sent per round trip time. This prevents
           a high datarate stream of packets from triggering a
           large number of Register-Stop messages between the
           time that the first packet is received and the time
           when the source receives the first Register-Stop.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 24] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      2    If there is no (S,G) entry, but there is a (*,G)
           entry, and the received Register does not have the
           Null-Register-Bit set to 1, the packet is forwarded
           according to the (*,G) entry.
      3    If there is a (*,*,RP) entry but no (*,G) entry, and
           the Register received does not have the Null-
           Register-Bit set to 1, a (*,G) or (S,G) entry is
           created and the oif list is copied from the (*,*,RP)
           entry to the new entry.  The packet is forwarded
           according to the created entry.
      4    If there is no G or (*,*,RP) entry corresponding to G,
           the packet is dropped, and a Register-Stop is
           triggered.
      5    A "Border bit" bit is added to the Register message,
           to facilitate interoperability mechanisms. PMBRs set
           this bit when registering for external sources (see
           Section 2.7).  If the "Border bit" is set in the
           Register, the RP does the following:
           1    If there is no matching (S,G) state, but there
                exists (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry, the RP creates a
                (S,G) entry, with a `PMBR' field.  This field
                holds the source of the Register (i.e. the outer
                IP address of the register packet).  The RP
                triggers a (S,G) join towards the source of the
                data packet, and clears the SPT bit for the (S,G)
                entry.  If the received Register is not a `null
                Register' the packet is forwarded according to
                the created state. Else,
           2    If the `PMBR' field for the corresponding (S,G)
                entry matches the source of the Register packet,
                and the received Register is not a `null
                Register', the decapsulated packet is forwarded
                to the oif list of that entry. Else,
           3    If the `PMBR' field for the corresponding (S,G)
                entry matches the source of the Register packet,
                the decapsulated packet is forwarded to the oif
                list of that entry, else
           4    The packet is dropped, and a Register-stop is
                triggered towards the source of the Register.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 25] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      The (S,G) Entry-timer is restarted  by  Registers arriving from
      that source to that group.
 2    If the matching (S,G) or (*,G) state contains a null oif
      list, the RP unicasts a Register-Stop message to the source
      of the Register message; in the latter case, the source-
      address field, within the Register-Stop message, is set to
      the wildcard value (all 0's). This message is not processed
      by intermediate routers, hence no (S,G) state is
      constructed between the RP and the source.
 3    If the Register message arrival rate warrants it and there
      is no existing (S,G) entry, the RP sets up a (S,G) route
      entry with the outgoing interface list, excluding iif(S,G),
      copied from the (*,G) outgoing interface list, its SPT-bit
      is initialized to 0. If a (*,G) entry does not exist, but
      there exists a (*,*,RP) entry with the RP corresponding to
      G , the oif list for (S,G) is copied -excluding the iif-
      from that (*,*,RP) entry.
      A timer (Entry-timer) is set for the (S,G) entry and this
      timer is restarted by receipt of data packets for (S,G).
      The (S,G) entry causes the RP to send a Join/Prune message
      for the indicated group towards the source of the register
      message.
      If the (S,G) oif list becomes null, Join/Prune messages
      will not be sent towards the source, S.

3.4 Multicast Data Packet Forwarding

 Processing a multicast data packet involves the following steps:
 1    Lookup route state based on a longest match of the source
      address, and an exact match of the destination address in
      the data packet. If neither S, nor G, find a longest match
      entry, and the RP for the packet's destination group
      address has a corresponding (*,*,RP) entry, then the
      longest match does not require an exact match on the
      destination group address. In summary, the longest match is
      performed in the following order: (1) (S,G), (2) (*,G). If
      neither is matched, then a lookup is performed on (*,*,RP)
      entries.
 2    If the packet arrived on the interface found in the
      matching-entry's iif field, and the oif list is not
      null:

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 26] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      1    Forward the packet to the oif list for that entry
           and restart the Entry-timer if the matching entry is
           (S,G).  Optionally, the (S,G) Entry-timer may be
           restarted by periodic checking of the matching packet
           count.
      2    If the entry is a (S,G) entry with a cleared SPT-bit,
           and a (*,G) or associated (*,*,RP) also exists whose
           incoming interface is different than that for (S,G),
           set the SPT-bit for the (S,G) entry and trigger an
           (S,G) RPT-bit prune towards the RP.
      3    If the source of the packet is a directly-connected
           host and the router is the DR on the receiving
           interface, check the Register-Suppression-timer
           associated with the (S,G) entry. If it is not running,
           then the router encapsulates the data packet in a
           register message and sends it to the RP.
      This covers the common case of a packet arriving on the RPF
      interface to the source or RP and being forwarded to all
      joined branches. It also detects when packets arrive on the
      SP-tree, and triggers their pruning from the RP-tree. If it
      is the DR for the source, it sends data packets
      encapsulated in Registers to the RPs.
 3    If the packet matches to an entry but did not arrive on the
      interface found in the entry's iif field, check the
      SPT-bit of the entry. If the SPT-bit is set, drop the
      packet.  If the SPT-bit is cleared, then lookup the (*,G),
      or (*,*,RP), entry for G. If the packet arrived on the
      iif found in (*,G), or the corresponding (*,*,RP),
      forward the packet to the oif list of the matching
      entry. This covers the case when a data packet matches on a
      (S,G) entry for which the SP-tree has not yet been
      completely established upstream.
 4    If the packet does not match any entry, but the source of
      the data packet is a local, directly-connected host, and
      the router is the DR on a multi-access LAN and has RP-Set
      information, the DR uses the hash function to determine the
      RP associated with the destination group, G. The DR creates
      a (S,G) entry, with the Register-Suppression-timer not
      running, encapsulates the data packet in a Register message
      and unicasts it to the RP.
 5    If the packet does not match to any entry, and it is not a
      local host or the router is not the DR, drop the packet.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 27] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

3.4.1 Data triggered switch to shortest path tree (SP-tree)

 Different criteria can be applied to trigger switching over from the
 RP-based shared tree to source-specific, shortest path trees.
 One proposed example is to do so based on data rate.  For example,
 when a (*,G), or corresponding (*,*,RP), entry is created, a data rate
 counter may be initiated at the last-hop routers.  The counter is
 incremented with every data packet received for directly connected
 members of an SM group, if the longest match is (*,G) or (*,*,RP). If
 and when the data rate for the group exceeds a certain configured
 threshold (t1), the router initiates `source-specific' data rate
 counters for the following data packets. Then, each counter for a
 source, is incremented when packets matching on (*,G), or (*,*,RP),
 are received from that source. If the data rate from the particular
 source exceeds a configured threshold (t2), a (S,G) entry is created
 and a Join/Prune message is sent towards the source.  If the RPF
 interface for (S,G) is not the same as that for (*,G) -or (*,*,RP),
 then the SPT-bit is cleared in the (S,G) entry.
 Other configured rules may be enforced to cause or prevent
 establishment of (S,G) state.

3.5 Assert

 Asserts are used to resolve which of the parallel routers connected to
 a multi-access LAN is responsible for forwarding packets onto the LAN.

3.5.1 Sending Asserts

 The following Assert rules are provided when a multicast packet is
 received on an outgoing multi-access interface "I" of an existing
 (S,G) entry:
 1    Do unicast routing table lookup on source IP address from
      data packet, and send assert on interface "I" for source
      IP address in data packet; include metric preference of
      routing protocol and metric from routing table lookup.
 2    If route is not found, use metric preference of 0x7fffffff
      and metric 0xffffffff.
 When an assert is sent for a (*,G) entry, the first bit in the
 metric preference (the RPT-bit) is set to 1, indicating the data
 packet is routed down the RP-tree.
 Asserts should be rate-limited in an implementation-specific
 manner.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 28] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

3.5.2 Receiving Asserts

 When an Assert is received the router performs a longest match on the
 source and group address in the Assert message. The router checks the
 first bit of the metric preference (RPT-bit).
 1    If the RPT-bit is set, the router first does a match on
      (*,G), or (*,*,RP), entries; if no matching entry is found,
      it ignores the Assert.
 2    If the RPT-bit is not set in the Assert, the router first
      does a match on (S,G) entries; if no matching entry is
      found, the router matches (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entries.
 3.5.2.1 Receiving Asserts on an entry's outgoing interface
 If the interface that received the Assert message is in the oif list
 of the matched entry, then this Assert is processed by this router as
 follows:
 1    If the Assert's RPT-bit is set and the matching entry is
      (*,*,RP), the router creates a (*,G) entry. If the Assert's
      RPT-bit is cleared and the matching entry is (*,G), or
      (*,*,RP), the router creates a (S,G)RPT-bit entry.
      Otherwise, no new entry is created in response to the
      Assert.
 2    The router then compares the metric values received in the
      Assert with the metric values associated with the matched
      entry. The RPT-bit and metric preference (in that order)
      are treated as the high-order part of an Assert metric
      comparison. If the value in the Assert is less than the
      router's value (with ties broken by the IP address, where
      higher IP address wins), delete the interface from the
      entry.  When the deletion occurs for a (*,G) or (*,*,RP)
      entry , the interface is also deleted from any associated
      (S,G)RPT-bit or (*,G) entries, respectively. The Entry-
      timer for the affected entries is restarted.
 3    If the router has won the election the router keeps the
      interface in its outgoing interface list. It acts as the
      forwarder for the LAN.
 The winning router sends an Assert message containing its own metric
 to that outgoing interface. This will cause other routers on the LAN
 to prune that interface from their route entries. The winning router
 sets the RPT-bit in the Assert message if a (*,G) or (S,G)RPT-bit
 entry was matched.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 29] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 3.5.2.2 Receiving Asserts on an entry's incoming interface
 If the Assert arrived on the incoming interface of an existing (S,G),
 (*,G), or (*,*,RP) entry, the Assert is processed as follows.  If the
 Assert message does not match the entry, exactly, it is ignored; i.e,
 longest-match is not used in this case. If the Assert message does
 match exactly, then:
 1    Downstream routers will select the upstream router with the
      smallest metric preference and metric as their RPF
      neighbor. If two metrics are the same, the highest IP
      address is chosen to break the tie. This is important so
      that downstream routers send subsequent Joins/Prunes (in
      SM) to the correct neighbor. An Assert-timer is initiated
      when changing the RPF neighbor to the Assert winner.  When
      the timer expires, the router resets its RPF neighbor
      according to its unicast routing tables to capture network
      dynamics and router failures.
 2    If the downstream routers have downstream members, and if
      the Assert caused the RPF neighbor to change, the
      downstream routers must trigger a Join/Prune message to
      inform the upstream router that packets are to be forwarded
      on the multi-access network.

3.6 Candidate-RP-Advertisements and Bootstrap messages

 Candidate-RP-Advertisements (C-RP-Advs) are periodic PIM messages
 unicast to the BSR by those routers that are configured as
 Candidate-RPs (C-RPs).
 Bootstrap messages are periodic PIM messages originated by the
 Bootstrap router (BSR) within a domain, and forwarded hop-by-hop to
 distribute the current RP-set to all routers in that domain.
 The Bootstrap messages also support a simple mechanism by which the
 Candidate BSR (C-BSR) with the highest BSR-priority and IP address
 (referred to as the preferred BSR) is elected as the BSR for the
 domain.  We recommend that each router configured as a C-RP also be
 configured as a C-BSR. Sections 3.6.2 and 3.6.3 describe the combined
 function of Bootstrap messages as the vehicle for BSR election and
 RP-Set distribution.
 A Finite State Machine description of the BSR election and RP- Set
 distribution mechanisms is included in Appendix II.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 30] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

3.6.1 Sending Candidate-RP-Advertisements

 C-RPs periodically unicast C-RP-Advs to the BSR for that domain.  The
 interval for sending these messages is subject to local configuration
 at the C-RP.
 Candidate-RP-Advertisements carry group address and group mask
 fields.  This enables the advertising router to limit the
 advertisement to certain prefixes or scopes of groups.  The
 advertising router may enforce this scope acceptance when receiving
 Registers or Join/Prune messages.  C-RPs should send C-RP-Adv
 messages with the Authoritative bit cleared.

3.6.2 Receiving C-RP-Advs and Originating Bootstrap

 Upon receiving a C-RP-Adv, a router does the following:
 1    If the router is not the elected BSR, it ignores the
      message, else
 2    The BSR adds the RP address to its local pool of candidate
      RPs, according to the associated group prefix(es) in the
      C-RP-Adv message. The Holdtime in the C-RP-Adv message is
      also stored with the corresponding RP, to be included later
      in the Bootstrap message. The BSR may apply a local
      policy to limit the number of Candidate RPs included
      in the Bootstrap message.  The BSR may override the prefix
      indicated in a C-RP-Adv unless the Authoritative bit in the
      C-RP-Adv is set.
 The BSR keeps an RP-timer per RP in its local RP-set.  The RP- timer
 is initialized to the Holdtime in the RP's C-RP-Adv. When the timer
 expires, the corresponding RP is removed from the RP- set.  The RP-
 timer is restarted by the C-RP-Advs from the corresponding RP.
 The BSR also uses its Bootstrap-timer to periodically send Bootstrap
 messages.  In particular, when the Bootstrap-timer expires, the BSR
 originates an Bootstrap message on each of its PIM interfaces.  The
 message is sent with a TTL of 1 to the `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS' group. In
 steady state, the BSR originates Bootstrap messages periodically. At
 startup, the Bootstrap-timer is initialized to [Bootstrap-Timeout],
 causing the first Bootstrap message to be originated only when and if
 the timer expires. For timer details, see Section 3.6.3. A DR
 unicasts a Bootstrap message to each new PIM neighbor, i.e., after
 the DR receives the neighbor's Hello message (it does so even if the
 new neighbor becomes the DR).

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 31] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 The Bootstrap message is subdivided into sets of {group- prefix,RP-
 Count,RP-addresses}.  For each RP-address, the corresponding Holdtime
 is included in the "RP-Holdtime" field.  The format of the Bootstrap
 message allows `semantic fragmentation', if the length of the
 original Bootstrap message exceeds the packet maximum boundaries (see
 Section 4). However, we recommend against configuring a large number
 of routers as C-RPs, to reduce the semantic fragmentation required.

3.6.3 Receiving and Forwarding Bootstrap

 Each router keeps a Bootstrap-timer, initialized to [Bootstrap-
 Timeout] at startup.
 When a router receives Bootstrap message sent to `ALL-PIM- ROUTERS'
 group, it performs the following:
 1    If the message was not sent by the RPF neighbor towards the
      BSR address included, the message is dropped. Else
 2    If the included BSR is not preferred over, and not equal
      to, the currently active BSR:
      1    If the Bootstrap-timer has not yet expired, or if the
           receiving router is a C-BSR, then the Bootstrap
           message is dropped. Else
      2    If the Bootstrap-timer has expired and the receiving
           router is not a C-BSR, the receiving router stores the
           RP-Set and BSR address and priority found in the
           message, and restarts the timer by setting it to
           [Bootstrap-Timeout]. The Bootstrap message is then
           forwarded out all PIM interfaces, excluding the one
           over which the message arrived, to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS'
           group, with a TTL of 1.
      3    If the Bootstrap message includes a BSR address that is
           preferred over, or equal to, the currently active BSR, the
           router restarts its Bootstrap-timer at [Bootstrap-Timeout]
           seconds. and stores the BSR address and RP-Set information.
           The Bootstrap message is then forwarded out all PIM
           interfaces, excluding the one over which the message
           arrived, to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS' group, with a TTL of 1.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 32] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      4    If the receiving router has no current RP set information
           and the Bootstrap was unicast to it from a directly
           connected neighbor, the router stores the information as
           its new RP-set.  This covers the startup condition when a
           newly booted router obtains the RP-Set and BSR address from
           its DR.
 When a router receives a new RP-Set, it checks if each of the RPs
 referred to by existing state (i.e., by (*,G), (*,*,RP), or
 (S,G)RPT-bit entries) is in the new RP-Set. If an RP is not in the new
 RP-set, that RP is considered unreachable and the hash algorithm (see
 below) is re-performed for each group with locally active state that
 previously hashed to that RP. This will cause those groups to be
 distributed among the remaining RPs. When the new RP-Set contains a
 new RP, the value of the new RP is calculated for each group covered
 by that C-RP's Group- prefix.  Any group for which the new RP's value
 is greater than the previously active RP's value is switched over to
 the new RP.

3.7 Hash Function

 The hash function is used by all routers within a domain, to map a
 group to one of the C-RPs from the RP-Set. For a particular group, G,
 the hash function uses only those C-RPs whose Group- prefix covers G.
 The algorithm takes as input the group address, and the addresses of
 the Candidate RPs, and gives as output one RP address to be used.
 The protocol requires that all routers hash to the same RP within a
 domain (except for transients). The following hash function must be
 used in each router:
 1    For each RP address C(i) in the RP-Set, whose Group-prefix
      covers G, compute a value:
 Value(G,M,C(i))=
 (1103515245 * ((1103515245 * (G&M)+12345) XOR C(i)) + 12345) mod 2^31
       where M is a hash-mask included in Bootstrap messages.
       This hash-mask allows a small number of consecutive groups
       (e.g., 4) to always hash to the same RP.  For instance,
       hierarchically-encoded data can be sent on consecutive
       group addresses to get the same delay and fate-sharing
       characteristics.
 2    The candidate with the highest resulting value is then
      chosen as the RP for that group, and its identity and hash
      value are stored with the entry created.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 33] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      Ties between C-RPs having the same hash value, are broken
      in advantage of the highest address.
 The hash function algorithm is invoked by a DR, upon reception of a
 packet, or IGMP membership indication, for a group, for which the DR
 has no entry. It is invoked by any router that has (*,*,RP) state when
 a packet is received for which there is no corresponding (S,G) or
 (*,G) entry.  Furthermore, the hash function is invoked by all routers
 upon receiving a (*,G) or (*,*,RP) Join/Prune message.

3.8 Processing Timer Events

 In this subsection, we enumerate all timers that have been discussed
 or implied. Since some critical timer events are not associated with
 the receipt or sending of messages, they are not fully covered by
 earlier subsections.
 Timers are implemented in an implementation-specific manner. For
 example, a timer may count up or down, or may simply expire at a
 specific time. Setting a timer to a value T means that it will expire
 after T seconds.

3.8.1 Timers related to tree maintenance

 Each (S,G), (*,G), and (*,*,RP) route entry has multiple timers
 associated with it: one for each interface in the outgoing interface
 list, one for the multicast routing entry itself, and one optional
 Join/Prune-Suppression-Timer. Each (S,G) and (*,G) entry also has an
 Assert-timer and a Random-Delay-Join-Timer for use with Asserts.  In
 addition, DR's have a Register- Suppression-timer for each (S,G) entry
 and every router has a single Join/Prune-timer. (A router may
 optionally keep separate Join/Prune-timers for different interfaces or
 route entries if different Join/Prune periods are desired.)
  • [Join/Prune-Timer] This timer is used for periodically

sending aggregate Join/Prune messages. To avoid

      synchronization among routers booting simultaneously, it is
      initially set to a random value between 1 and [Join/Prune-
      Period].  When it expires, the timer is immediately
      restarted to [Join/Prune-Period]. A Join/Prune message is
      then sent out each interface.  This timer should not be
      restarted by other events.
  • [Join/Prune-Suppression-Timer (kept per route entry)] A

route entry's (optional) Join/Prune-Suppression-Timer may

      be used to suppress duplicate joins from multiple
      downstream routers on the same LAN. When a Join message is
      received from a neighbor on the entry's incoming interface

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 34] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      in which the included Holdtime is higher than the router's
      own [Join/Prune-Holdtime] (with ties broken by higher IP
      address), the timer is set to [Join/Prune-Suppression-
      Timeout], with some random jitter introduced to avoid
      synchronization of triggered Join/Prune messages on
      expiration. (The random timeout value must be < 1.5 *
      [Join/Prune-Period] to prevent losing data after 2 dropped
      Join/Prunes.)  The timer is restarted every time a
      subsequent Join/Prune message (with higher Holdtime/IP
      address) for the entry is received on its incoming
      interface.  While the timer is running, Join/Prune messages
      for the entry are not sent.  This timer is idle (not
      running) for point-to-point links.
  • [Oif-Timer (kept per oif for each route entry)] A timer for

each oif of a route entry is used to time out that oif.

      Because some of the outgoing interfaces in an (S,G) entry
      are copied from the (*,G) outgoing interface list, they may
      not have explicit (S,G) join messages from some of the
      downstream routers (i.e., where members are joining to the
      (*,G) tree only). Thus, when an Oif-timer is restarted in a
      (*,G) entry, the Oif-timer is restarted for that interface
      in each existing (S,G) entry whose oif list contains that
      interface. The same rule applies to (*,G) and (S,G) entries
      when restarting an Oif-timer on a (*,*,RP) entry.
      The following table shows its usage when first adding the
      oif to the entry's oiflist, when it should be restarted
      (unless it is already higher), and when it should be
      decreased (unless it is already lower).

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 35] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 Set to                   | When                         | Applies  to
 -------------------------|------------------------------|------------
 included Holdtime        | adding oif off Join/Prune    | (S,G) (*,G)
                          |                              | (*,*,RP)
 Increased (only) to      | When                         |  Applies to
 -------------------------|------------------------------|------------
 included  Holdtime       | received Join/Prune          | (S,G) (*,G)
                          |                              | (*,*,RP)
                          |                              |
 Value of (*,*,RP)        | (*,*,RP) oif-timer restarted | (S,G) (*,G)
    oif-timer             |                              |
                          |                              |
 Value of (*,G)           | (*,G) oif-timer restarted    | (S,G)
    oif-timer             |                              |
 Decreased (only) to      |  When                        | Applies  to
 -------------------------|------------------------------|------------
 Oif-Deletion-Delay       | prune received               | (S,G) (*,G)
      When the timer expires, the oif is removed from the oiflist
      if there are no directly-connected members. When deleted,
      the oif is also removed in any associated (S,G) or (*,G)
      entries.
  • [Entry-Timer (kept per route entry)] A timer for each route

entry is used to time out that entry. The following table

      summarizes its usage when first adding the oif to the
      entry's oiflist, and when it should be restarted (unless it
      is already higher).

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 36] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 Set to                |  When                    | Applies to
 ----------------------|--------------------------|------------
 [Data- Timeout]       | created off data packet  | (S,G)
                       |                          |
 included Holdtime     | created off Join/Prune   | (S,G) (*,G)
 (*,*,RP)
 Increased  (only)  to |  When                    | Applies to
 ----------------------|--------------------------|------------
 [Data-Timeout]        | receiving  data  packets | (S,G)no RPT-bit
                       |                          |
 Value of oif-timer    | any oif-timer restarted  | (S,G)RPT-bit (*,G)
                       |                          | (*,*,RP)
                       |                          |
 [Assert-Timeout]      | assert received          | (S,G)RPT-bit
                       |                          | (*,G)w/null oif
      When the timer expires, the route entry is deleted; if the
      entry is a (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry, all associated
      (S,G)RPT-bit entries are also deleted.
  • [Register-Suppression-Timer (kept per (S,G) route entry)]

An (S,G) route entry's Register-Suppression-Timer is used

      to suppress registers when the RP is receiving data packets
      natively.  When a Register-Stop message for the entry is
      received from the RP, the timer is set to a random value in
      the range 0.5 * [Register-Suppression-Timeout] to 1.5 *
      [Register-Suppression-Timeout]. While the timer is running,
      Registers for that entry will be suppressed.  If null
      registers are used, a null register is sent [Probe-Time]
      seconds before the timer expires.
  • [Assert-Timer (per (S,G) or (*,G) route entry)] The

Assert-Timer for an (S,G) or (*,G) route entry is used for

      timing out Asserts received. When an Assert is received and
      the RPF neighbor is changed to the Assert winner, the
      Assert-Timer is set to [Assert-Timeout], and is restarted
      to this value every time a subsequent Assert for the entry
      is received on its incoming interface.  When the timer
      expires, the router resets its RPF neighbor according to
      its unicast routing table.
  • [Random-Delay-Join-Timer (per (S,G) or (*,G) route entry)]

The Random-Delay-Join-Timer for an (S,G) or (*,G) route

      entry is used to prevent synchronization among downstream
      routers on a LAN when their RPF neighbor changes. When the

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 37] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      RPF neighbor changes, this timer is set to a random value
      between 0 and [Random-Delay-Join-Timeout] seconds. When the
      timer expires, a triggered Join/Prune message is sent for
      the entry unless its Join/Prune-Suppression-Timer is
      running.

3.8.2 Timers relating to neighbor discovery

  • [Hello-Timer] This timer is used to periodically send Hello

messages. To avoid synchronization among routers booting

      simultaneously, it is initially set to a random value
      between 1 and [Hello-Period]. When it expires, the timer is
      immediately restarted to [Hello-Period]. A Hello message is
      then sent out each interface.  This timer should not be
      restarted by other events.
  • [Neighbor-Timer (kept per neighbor)] A Neighbor-Timer for

each neighbor is used to time out the neighbor state. When

      a Hello message is received from a new neighbor, the timer
      is initially set to the Holdtime included in the Hello
      message (which is equal to the neighbor's value of [Hello-
      Holdtime]).  Every time a subsequent Hello is received from
      that neighbor, the timer is restarted to the Holdtime in
      the Hello.  When the timer expires, the neighbor state is
      removed.

3.8.3 Timers relating to RP information

  • [C-RP-Adv-Timer (C-RP's only)] Routers configured as

candidate RP's use this timer to periodically send C-RP-Adv

      messages. To avoid synchronization among routers booting
      simultaneously, the timer is initially set to a random
      value between 1 and [C-RP-Adv-Period]. When it expires, the
      timer is immediately restarted to [C-RP-Adv-Period]. A C-
      RP-Adv message is then sent to the elected BSR. This timer
      should not be restarted by other events.
  • [RP-Timer (BSR only, kept per RP in RP-Set)] The BSR uses a

timer per RP in the RP-Set to monitor liveness. When a C-RP

      is added to the RP-Set, its timer is set to the Holdtime
      included in the C-RP-Adv message from that C-RP (which is
      equal to the C-RP's value of [RP-Holdtime]). Every time a
      subsequent C-RP-Adv is received from that RP, its timer is
      restarted to the Holdtime in the C-RP-Adv. When the timer
      expires, the RP is removed from the RP-Set included in
      Bootstrap messages.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 38] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

  • [Bootstrap-Timer] This timer is used by the BSR to

periodically originate Bootstrap messages, and by other

      routers to time out the BSR (see 3.6.3).  This timer is
      initially set to [Bootstrap-Timeout].  A C-BSR restarts
      this timer to [Bootstrap-Timeout] upon receiving a Bootstrap
      message from a preferred router, and originates an Bootstrap
      message and restarts the timer to [Bootstrap-Period] when it
      expires.  Routers not configured as C-BSR's restart this
      timer to [Bootstrap-Timeout] upon receiving a Bootstrap
      message from the elected or a more preferred BSR, and ignore
      Bootstrap messages from non-preferred C-BSRs while it is
      running.

3.8.4 Default timer values

 Most of the default timeout values for state information are 3.5
 times the refresh period. For example, Hellos refresh Neighbor state
 and the default Hello-timer period is 30 seconds, so a default
 Neighbor-timer duration of 105 seconds is included in the Holdtime
 field of the Hellos.  In order to improve convergence, however, the
 default timeout value for information related to RP liveness and
 Bootstrap messages is 2.5 times the refresh period.
 In this version of the spec, we suggest particular numerical timer
 settings.  A future version of the specification will specify a
 mechanism for timer values to be scaled based upon observed network
 parameters.
  • [Join/Prune-Period] This is the interval between

sending Join/Prune messages. {Default: 60 seconds.} This

      value may be set to take into account such things as the
      configured bandwidth and expected average number of
      multicast route entries for the attached network or link
      (e.g., the period would be longer for lower-speed links, or
      for routers in the center of the network that expect to
      have a larger number of entries ). In addition, a router
      could modify this value (and corresponding Join/Prune-
      Holdtime value) if the number of route entries changes
      significantly (e.g., by an order of magnitude).  For
      example, given a default minimum Join/Prune-Period value,
      if the number of route entries with a particular iif
      increases from N to N*100, the router could increase its
      Join/Prune-Period (and Join/Prune-Holdtime), for that
      interface, by a factor of 10; and if/when the number of
      entries decreases back to N, the Join/Prune-Period (and
      Join/Prune-Holdtime) could be decreased to its previous
      value. If the Join/Prune-Period is modified, these changes
      should be made relatively infrequently and the router

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 39] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      should continue to refresh at its previous Join/Prune-
      Period for at least Join/Prune-Holdtime, in order to allow
      the upstream router to adapt.
  • [Join-Prune Holdtime] This is the Holdtime specified in

Join/Prune messages, and is used to time out oifs. This

      should be set to 3.5 * [Join/Prune-Period]. {Default: 210
      seconds.}
  • [Join/Prune-Suppression-Timeout] This is the mean

interval between receiving a Join/Prune with a higher

      Holdtime (with ties broken by higher IP addres) and
      allowing duplicate Join/Prunes to be sent again. This
      should be set to approximately 1.25 * [Join/Prune-Period].
      {Default: 75 seconds. }
  • [Data-Timeout] This is the time after which (S,G) state

for a silent source will be deleted. {Default: 210

      seconds.}
  • [Register-Suppression-Timeout] This is the mean

interval between receiving a Register-Stop and allowing

      Registers to be sent again.  A lower value means more
      frequent register bursts at RP, while a higher value means
      longer join latency for new receivers.  {Default: 60
      seconds.} (Note that if null Registers are sent [Probe-
      Time] seconds before the timeout, register bursts are
      prevents, and [Register-Suppression-Timeout] may be lowered
      to decrease join latency.)
  • [Probe-Time] When null Registers are used, this is the

time between sending a null Register and the Register-

      Suppression-Timer expiring unless it is restarted by
      receiving a Register-Stop. Thus, a null Register would be
      sent when the Register-Suppression-Timer reaches this
      value. {Default: 5 seconds.}
  • [Assert-Timeout] This is the interval between the last

time an Assert is received, and the time at which the

      assert is timed out. {Default: 180 seconds.}
  • [Random-Delay-Join-Timeout] This is the maximum

interval between the time when the RPF neighbor changes,

      and the time at which a triggered Join/Prune message is
      sent.  {Default: 4.5 seconds.}
  • [Hello-Period] This is the interval between sending

Hello messages. {Default: 30 seconds.}

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 40] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

  • [Hello-Holdtime] This is the Holdtime specified in

Hello messages, after which neighbors will time out their

      neighbor entries for the router. This should be set to 3.5
      * [Hello-Period]. {Default: 105 seconds.}
  • [C-RP-Adv-Period] For C-RPs, this is the interval

between sending C-RP-Adv messages. {Default: 60 seconds.}

  • [RP-Holdtime] For C-RPs, this is the Holdtime specified

in C-RP-Adv messages, and is used by the BSR to time out

      RPs. This should be set to 2.5 * [C-RP-Adv-Period].
      {Default: 150 seconds.}
  • [Bootstrap-Period] At the elected BSR, this is the

interval between originating Bootstrap messages, and should

      be equal to 60 seconds.
  • [Bootstrap-Timeout] This is the time after which the

elected BSR will be assumed unreachable when Bootstrap

      messages are not received from it. This should be set to
      2.5 * [Bootstrap-Period]. {Default: 150 seconds.}

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 41] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

3.9 Summary of flags used

 Following is a summary of all the flags used in our scheme.

Bit | Used in | Definition

Authoritative | C-RP-Adv | Group-prefix information should not be

                            over-ridden by BSR

Border | Register | Register for external sources is coming

                            from PIM multicast border router

Null | Register | Register sent as Probe of RP, the

                            encapsulated IP data packet should not
                            be forwarded

RPT | Route entry | Entry represents state on the RP-tree RPT | Join/Prune | Join is associated with the shared tree

                            and therefore the Join/Prune message is
                            propagated along the RP-tree (source
                            encoded is an RP address)

RPT | Assert | The data packet was routed down the shared

                            tree; thus, the path indicated corresponds
                            to the RP tree

SPT | (S,G) entry | Packets have arrived on the iif towards S,

                            and the iif is different from the (*,G)
                            iif

WC |Join | The receiver expects to receive packets

                            from all sources via this (shared tree)
                            path. Thus, the Join/Prune applies to a
                            (*,G) entry

WC | Route entry | Wildcard entry; if there is no more

                            specific match for a particular source,
                            packets will be forwarded according to
                            this entry

3.10 Security

 All PIM control messages may use IPSec [6] to address security
 concerns.

4 Packet Formats

 This section describes the details of the packet formats for PIM
 control messages.
 All PIM control messages have protocol number 103.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 42] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 Basically, PIM messages are either unicast (e.g.  Registers and
 Register-Stop), or multicast hop-by-hop to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS' group
 `224.0.0.13' (e.g. Join/Prune, Asserts, etc.).
  0                   1                   2                   3
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 PIM Ver
       PIM Version number is 2.
 Type  Types for specific PIM messages.  PIM Types are:
    0 = Hello
    1 = Register
    2 = Register-Stop
    3 = Join/Prune
    4 = Bootstrap
    5 = Assert
    6 = Graft (used in PIM-DM only)
    7 = Graft-Ack (used in PIM-DM only)
    8 = Candidate-RP-Advertisement
 Addr length
       Address length in bytes.  Throughout this section this
       would indicate the number of bytes in the Address field of
       an address, including unicast and group addresses.
 Checksum
       The checksum is the 16-bit one's complement of  the  one's
       complement  sum  of  the entire PIM message, (excluding the
       data portion in the Register message).  For  computing  the
       checksum, the checksum field is zeroed.

4.1 Encoded Source and Group Address formats

 1    Unicast address: Only the address is included.  The length
      of the unicast address in bytes is specified in the `Addr
      length' field in the header.
 2    Encoded-Group-Address: Takes the following format:

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 43] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |     Reserved  |  Mask Len     | Group multicast Address ...   |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | ...Group multicast Address ...|
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+~+~+~+~+~+~+
      Reserved
            Transmitted as zero. Ignored upon receipt.
      Mask Length
            The Mask length is 8 bits. The value is the number of
            contiguous bits left justified used as a mask which
            describes the address. It is less than or equal to
            Addr length * 8. If the message is sent for a single
            group then the Mask length must equal Addr length * 8
            (i.e. 32 for IPv4 and 128 for IPv6).
      Group multicast Address
            contains the group address, and has number of bytes
            equal to that specified in the Addr length field.
 3    Encoded-Source-Address: Takes the following format:
 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | Rsrvd   |S|W|R|  Mask Len     | Source Address ...            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |  ...  Source Address          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+~+~+-+
      Reserved
            Transmitted as zero, ignored on receipt.
      S,W,R See Section 4.5 for details.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 44] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      Mask Length
            Mask length is 8 bits. The value is the number of
            contiguous bits left justified used as a mask which
            describes the address. The mask length must be less
            than or equal to Addr Length * 8. If the message is
            sent for a single source then the Mask length must
            equal Addr length * 8.  In version 2 of PIM, it is
            strongly recommended that this field be set to 32 for
            IPv4.
      Source Address
            The address length is indicated from the Addr length
            field at the beginning of the header. For IPv4, the
            address length is 4 octets.

4.2 Hello Message

 It is sent periodically by routers on all interfaces.
 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |       OptionType              |         OptionLength          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                          OptionValue                          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+~+~+
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |       OptionType              |         OptionLength          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                          OptionValue                          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+~+~+
 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
       Described above.
 OptionType
       The type of the option given in the following OptionValue
       field.
 OptionLength
       The length of the OptionValue field in bytes.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 45] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 OptionValue
       A variable length field, carrying the value of the option.
 The Option fields may contain the following values:
  • OptionType = 1; OptionLength = 2; OptionValue = Holdtime;

where Holdtime is the amount of time a receiver must keep

      the neighbor reachable, in seconds. If the Holdtime is set
      to `0xffff', the receiver of this message never times out
      the neighbor. This may be used with ISDN lines, to avoid
      keeping the link up with periodic Hello messages.
      Furthermore, if the Holdtime is set to `0', the information
      is timed out immediately.
  • OptionType 2 to 16: reserved
  • The rest of the OptionTypes are defined in another

document.

 In general, options may be ignored; but a router must not ignore the
 'Holdtime' OptionType.

4.3 Register Message

 A Register message is sent by the DR or a PMBR to the RP when a
 multicast packet needs to be transmitted on the RP-tree. Source IP
 address is set to the address of the DR, destination IP address is to
 the RP's address.
 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |B|N|                       Reserved                            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 ~                      Multicast data packet                    ~
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
      Described above.  {Note that the checksum for Registers
      is done only on the PIM header, excluding the data packet
      portion.}

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 46] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 B     The Border bit. If the router is a DR for a source that it
       is directly connected to, it sets the B bit to 0. If the
       router is a PMBR for a source in a directly connected
       cloud, it sets the B bit to 1.
 N     The Null-Register bit. Set to 1 by a DR that is probing
       the RP before expiring its local Register-Suppression
       timer. Set to 0 otherwise.
 Multicast data packet
       The original packet sent by the source.
 For (S,G) null Registers, the Multicast data packet portion contains
 only a dummy IP header with S as the source address, G as the
 destination address, and a data length of zero.

4.4 Register-Stop Message

 A Register-Stop is unicast from the RP  to  the  sender  of  the
 Register  message. Source IP address is the address to which the
 register was addressed. Destination IP  address  is  the  source
 address of the register message.
 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                    Encoded-Group Address                      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                    Unicast-Source Address                     |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
       Described above.
 Encoded-Group Address
       Format described above. Note that for Register-Stops the
       Mask Len field contains Addr length * 8 (32 for IPv4), if
       the message is sent for a single group.
 Unicast-Source Address
       IP host address of source from multicast data packet in
       register. The length of this field in bytes is specified in
       the Addr length field. A special wild card value (0.0.0.0),
       can be used to indicate any source.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 47] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

4.5 Join/Prune Message

 A Join/Prune message is sent by routers towards upstream sources and
 RPs.  Joins are sent to build shared trees (RP trees) or source trees
 (SPT). Prunes are sent to prune source trees when members leave
 groups as well as sources that do not use the shared tree.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 48] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

  0                   1                   2                   3
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |             Unicast-Upstream Neighbor Address                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |  Reserved     | Num groups    |          Holdtime             |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |            Encoded-Multicast Group Address-1                  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |   Number of Joined  Sources   |   Number of Pruned Sources    |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-1                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                             .                                 |
 |                             .                                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-n                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-1                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                             .                                 |
 |                             .                                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-n                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                           .                                   |
 |                           .                                   |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                Encoded-Multicast Group Address-n              |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |   Number of Joined  Sources   |   Number of Pruned Sources    |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-1                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                             .                                 |
 |                             .                                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Joined Source Address-n                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-1                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                             .                                 |
 |                             .                                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |               Encoded-Pruned Source Address-n                 |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 49] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
       Described above.
 Upstream Neighbor Address
       The IP address of the RPF or upstream neighbor.
 Reserved
       Transmitted as zero, ignored on receipt.
 Holdtime
       The amount of time a receiver must keep the Join/Prune
       state alive, in seconds.  If the Holdtime is set to
       `0xffff', the receiver of this message never times out the
       oif. This may be used with ISDN lines, to avoid keeping the
       link up with periodical Join/Prune messages.  Furthermore,
       if the Holdtime is set to `0', the information is timed out
       immediately.
 Number of Groups
       The number of multicast group sets contained in the
       message.
 Encoded-Multicast group address
       For format description see Section
       4.1. A wild card group in the (*,*,RP) join is represented
       by a 224.0.0.0 in the group address field and `4' in the
       mask length field. A (*,*,RP) join also has the WC-bit and
       the RPT-bit set.
 Number of Joined Sources
       Number of join source addresses listed for a given group.
 Join Source Address-1 .. n
       This list contains the sources that the sending router
       will forward multicast datagrams for if received on the
       interface this message is sent on.
       See format section 4.1. The fields explanation for the
       Encoded-Source-Address format follows:
      Reserved
            Described above.
      S     The Sparse bit is a 1 bit value, set to 1 for PIM-SM.
            It is used for PIM v.1 compatibility.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 50] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

      W     The WC bit is a 1 bit value. If 1, the join or prune
            applies to the (*,G) or (*,*,RP) entry. If 0, the join
            or prune applies to the (S,G) entry where S is Source
            Address.  Joins and prunes sent towards the RP must
            have this bit set.
      R     The RPT-bit is a 1 bit value. If 1, the information
            about (S,G) is sent towards the RP.  If 0, the
            information must be sent toward S, where S is the
            Source Address.
      Mask Length, Source Address
            Described above.
      Represented in the form of < WC-bit >< RPT-bit > < Mask length
      ><Source address>:
      A source address could be a host IP address :
       < 0 >< 0 >< 32 >< 192.1.1.17 >
      A source address could be the RP's IP address :
       < 1 >< 1 >< 32 >< 131.108.13.111 >
      A source address could be a subnet address to prune from the
      RP-tree :
       < 0 >< 1 >< 28 >< 192.1.1.16 >
      A source address could be a general aggregate :
       < 0 >< 0 >< 16 >< 192.1.0.0 >
 Number of Pruned Sources
       Number of prune source addresses listed for a group.
 Prune Source Address-1 .. n
       This list contains the sources that the sending router
       does not want to forward multicast datagrams for when
       received on the interface this message is sent on.  If the
       Join/Prune message boundary exceeds the maximum packet
       size, then the join and prune lists for the same group must
       be included in the same packet.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 51] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

4.6 Bootstrap Message

 The Bootstrap messages are multicast to `ALL-PIM-ROUTERS' group, out
 all interfaces having PIM neighbors (excluding the one over which the
 message was received).  Bootstrap messages are sent with TTL value of
 1. Bootstrap messages originate at the BSR, and are forwarded by
 intermediate routers.
 Bootstrap message is divided up into `semantic fragments', if the
 original message exceeds the maximum packet size boundaries.
 The semantics of a single `fragment' is given below:

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 52] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |         Fragment Tag          | Hash Mask len | BSR-priority  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Unicast-BSR-Address                   |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Encoded-Group Address-1               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | RP-Count-1    | Frag RP-Cnt-1 |         Reserved              |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Unicast-RP-Address-1                  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |          RP1-Holdtime         |           Unicast- . . .      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | . . . RP-Address-2            |       RP2-Holdtime            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Unicast-RP-Address-m                  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |          RPm-Holdtime         |            Encoded- . . .     |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | . . . Group Address-2         . . .                           |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Encoded-Group Address-n               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | RP-Count-m    | Frag RP-Cnt-m |          Reserved             |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Unicast-RP-Address-1                  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |          RP1-Holdtime         |           Unicast- . . .      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | . . . RP-Address-2            |       RP2-Holdtime            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Unicast-RP-Address-m                  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |          RPm-Holdtime         |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 53] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
       Described above.
 Fragment Tag
      A randomly generated number, acts to distinguish the
      fragments belonging to different Bootstrap messages;
      fragments belonging to same Bootstrap message carry the
      same `Fragment Tag'.
 Hash Mask len
      The length (in bits) of the mask to use in the hash
      function.  For IPv4 we recommend a value of 30. For IPv6 we
      recommend a value of 126.
 BSR-priority
      Contains the BSR priority value of the included BSR.  This
      field is considered as a high order byte when comparing BSR
      addresses.
 Unicast-BSR-Address
      The IP address of the bootstrap router for the domain. The
      length of this field in bytes is specified in Addr length.
 Encoded-Group Address-1..n
      The group prefix (address and mask) with which the
      Candidate RPs are associated. Format previously described.
 RP-Count-1..n
      The number of Candidate RP addresses included in the whole
      Bootstrap message for the corresponding group prefix. A
      router does not replace its old RP-Set for a given group
      prefix until/unless it receives `RP-Count' addresses for
      that prefix; the addresses could be carried over several
      fragments.  If only part of the RP-Set for a given group
      prefix was received, the router discards it, without
      updating that specific group prefix's RP-Set.
 Frag RP-Cnt-1..m
      The number of Candidate RP addresses included in this
      fragment of the Bootstrap message, for the corresponding
      group prefix. The `Frag RP-Cnt' field facilitates parsing
      of the RP-Set for a given group prefix, when carried over
      more than one fragment.
 Unicast-RP-address-1..m
      The address of the Candidate RPs, for the corresponding
      group prefix.  The length of this field in bytes is
      specified in Addr length.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 54] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 RP1..m-Holdtime
      The Holdtime for the corresponding RP. This field is copied
      from the `Holdtime' field of the associated RP stored at
      the BSR.

4.7 Assert Message

 The Assert message is sent when a multicast data packet is received
 on an outgoing interface corresponding to the (S,G) or (*,G)
 associated with the source.
  0                   1                   2                   3
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                      Encoded-Group Address                    |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                      Unicast-Source Address                   |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |R|                        Metric Preference                    |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                          Metric                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
       Described above.
 Encoded-Group Address
       The group address to which the data packet was addressed,
       and which triggered the Assert.  Format previously
       described.
 Unicast-Source Address
       Source IP address from IP multicast datagram that
       triggered the Assert packet to be sent. The length of this
       field in bytes is specified in Addr length.
 R     RPT-bit is a 1 bit value. If the IP multicast datagram
       that triggered the Assert packet is routed down the RP
       tree, then the RPT-bit is 1; if the IP multicast datagram
       is routed down the SPT, it is 0.
 Metric Preference
       Preference value assigned to the unicast routing protocol
       that provided the route to Host address.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 55] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 Metric The unicast routing table metric. The metric is in units
       applicable to the unicast routing protocol used.

4.8 Graft Message

 Used in dense-mode. Refer to PIM dense mode specification.

4.9 Graft-Ack Message

 Used in dense-mode. Refer to PIM dense mode specification.

4.10 Candidate-RP-Advertisement

 Candidate-RP-Advertisements are periodically unicast from the C-RPs
 to the BSR.
  0                   1                   2                   3
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |PIM Ver| Type  | Addr length   |           Checksum            |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | Prefix-Cnt    |A| Reserved    |             Holdtime          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Unicast-RP-Address                    |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Encoded-Group Address-1               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 |                               .                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Encoded-Group Address-n               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 PIM Version, Type, Addr length, Checksum
       Described above.
 Prefix-Cnt
       The number of encoded group addresses included in the
       message; indicating the group prefixes for which the C-RP
       is advertising. A Prefix-Cnt of `0' implies a prefix of
       224.0.0.0 with mask length of 4; i.e. all multicast groups.
       If the C-RP is not configured with Group-prefix
       information, the C-RP puts a default value of `0' in this
       field.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 56] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 A     The Authoritative bit. This bit indicates that the BSR
       should not override the group-prefix information indicated
       in the C-RP Advertisement. In most cases C-RPs set this bit
       to 0.
 Holdtime
       The amount of time the advertisement is valid. This field
       allows advertisements to be aged out.
 Unicast-RP-Address
       The address of the interface to advertise as a Candidate
       RP.  The length of this field in bytes is specified in Addr
       length.
 Encoded-Group Address-1..n
       The group prefixes for which the C-RP is advertising.
       Format previously described.

5 Acknowledgments

 Tony Ballardie, Scott Brim, Jon Crowcroft, Bill Fenner, Paul Francis,
 Joel Halpern, Horst Hodel, Polly Huang, Stephen Ostrowski, Lixia
 Zhang and Girish Chandranmenon provided detailed comments on previous
 drafts. The authors of CBT [7] and membership of the IDMR WG provided
 many of the motivating ideas for this work and useful feedback on
 design details.
 This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, ARPA,
 cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 57] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

6 Appendices

6.1 Appendix I: Major Changes and Updates to the Spec

 This appendix populates the major changes in the specification
 document as compared to `draft-ietf-idmr-pim-spec-01.ps,txt'.
  • Major Changes
 List of changes since March '96 IETF:
 (*,*,RP) Joins state and data forwarding check; replaces (*,G-
 Prefix) Joins state for interoperability. (*,G) negative cache
 introduced for the (*,*,RP) state supporting mechanisms.
 Semantic fragmentation for the Bootstrap message.
 Refinement of Assert details.
 Addition and refinement of Join/Prune suppression and Register
 suppression (introduction of null Registers).
 Editorial changes and clarifications to the timers section.
 Addition of Appendix II (BSR Election and RP-Set Distribution), and
 Appendix III (Glossary of Terms).
 Addition of table of contents.
 List of changes incurred since version 1 of the spec.:
 Proposal and refinement of bootstrap router (BSR) election mechanisms
 Introduction of hash functions for Group to RP mapping
 New RP-liveness indication mechanisms based upon the the Bootstrap
 Router (BSR) and the Bootstrap messages.
 Removal of reachability messages, RP reports and multiple RPs per
 group.
  • Packet Format Changes
 Packet Format incurred updates to accommodate different address
 lengths, and address aggregation.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 58] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 1    The `Addr length' field was added to the PIM fixed header
      to specify the address length in bytes of the underlying
      protocol, see section 4.
 2    The Encoded source and group address formats were
      introduced, with the use of a `Mask length' field to allow
      aggregation, section 4.1.
 3    Packet formats are no longer IGMP messages; rather PIM
      messages.
 PIM message types and formats were also modified:
 [Note: most changes were made to the May 95 version, unless otherwise
 specified].
 1    Obsolete messages:
      Register-Ack [Feb. 96]
      Poll and Poll Response [Feb. 96]
      RP-Reachability [Feb. 96]
      RPlist-Mapping [Feb. 96]
 2    New messages:
      Candidate-RP-Advertisement [change made in October 95]
      RP-Set [Feb. 96]
 3    Modified messages:
      Join/Prune [Feb. 96]
      Register [Feb. 96]
      Register-Stop [Feb.  96]
      Hello (addition of OptionTypes) [Aug 96]
 4    Renamed messages:
      Query messages are renamed as Hello messages [Aug. 96]
      RP-Set messages are renamed as Bootstrap messages [Aug. 96]

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 59] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

6.2 Appendix II: BSR Election and RP-Set Distribution

 For simplicity, the Bootstrap message is used in both the BSR election
 and the RP-Set distribution.
 The above two mechanisms; the BSR election, and the RP-Set
 distribution; are realized through the following state machine,
 illustrated in figure 4:
    [Figures are present only in the postscript version]
    Fig.  4 State Diagram for the BSR election and RP-Set
    distribution mechanisms
 The protocol transitions for a C-BSR are given in state diagram (a).
 For routers not configured as C-BSRs, the protocol transitions are
 given in state diagram (b).
 Each PIM router keeps a Bootstrap-timer, initialized to
 [Bootstrap-Timeout], in addition to a local BSR field `LclBSR'
 (initialized to a local address if C-BSR, or to 0 otherwise), and a
 local RP-Set `LclRP-Set' (initially empty).  The two main stimuli to
 the state machine are the timer events, and receiving an Bootstrap
 message:
  • Initial States and Timer Events
 1    If the router is a C-BSR:
      1    The router operates initially in the `CandBSR' state, where
           it does not originate any Bootstrap messages.
      2    If the Bootstrap-timer expires, and the current state is
           `CandBSR', the router originates an Bootstrap message -
           carrying the local RP-Set, and its own BSR priority and
           address-, restarts the Bootstrap-timer at [Bootstrap-
           Period] seconds and transits into the `ElectedBSR' state.
      3    If the Bootstrap-timer expires, and the current state is
           `ElectedBSR', the router originates an Bootstrap message,
           and restarts the RP-Set timer at [Bootstrap-Period].  No
           state transition is incurred.
           This way, the elected BSR originates periodic Bootstrap
           messages every [Bootstrap-Period].

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 60] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 2    If a router is not a C-BSR:
      1    The router operates initially in the 'AxptAny' state.  In
           such state, a router accepts the first Bootstrap message
           from the RPF neighbor toward the included BSR. The Reverse
           Path Forwarding (RPF) neighbor in this case is the next hop
           router en route to the included BSR.
      2    If the Bootstrap-timer expires, and the current state is
           `AxptPref', -where the router accepts only preferred.
           Bootstrap messages from the RPF neighbor toward the
           included BSR-, the router transits into the `AxptAny'
           state (preferred Bootstrap messages are those that carry
           BSR-priority and address higher than, or equal to,
           `LclBSR').
           In this case, if an elected BSR becomes unreachable, the
           routers start accepting Bootstrap messages from another C-
           BSR after the Bootstrap-timer expires.  All PIM routers
           within a domain converge on the preferred (with highest
           priority and address) reachable C-BSR.
  • Receiving Bootstrap Message
 To avoid loops, an RPF check is performed on the included BSR address.
 Upon receiving an Bootstrap message from the RPF neighbor toward the
 included BSR, the following actions are taken:
 1    If the router is not a C-BSR:
      1    If the current state is 'AxptAny', the router accepts the
           Bootstrap message, and transits into the 'AxptPref' state.
      2    If the current state is 'AxptPref', and the Bootstrap
           message is preferred, the message is accepted. No state
           transition is incurred.
 2    If the router is a C-BSR, and the Bootstrap message is
      preferred, the message is accepted. Further, if this happens
      when the current state is
 When an Bootstrap message is accepted, the router restarts the
 Bootstrap-timer at [Bootstrap-Timeout], stores the received BSR
 priority and address in `LclBSR', and the received RP-Set in
 `LclRP-Set', and forwards the Bootstrap message out all interfaces
 except the receiving interface.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 61] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 If an Bootstrap message is rejected, no state transitions are
 triggered.

6.3 Appendix III: Glossary of Terms

 Following is an alphabetized list of terms and definitions used
 throughout this specification.
  • {Bootstrap router (BSR)}. A BSR is a dynamically elected router

within a PIM domain. It is responsible for constructing the RP-

      Set and originating Bootstrap messages.
  • {Candidate-BSR (C-BSR)}. A C-BSR is a router configured to

participate in the BSR election and act as BSRs if elected.

  • {Candidate RP (C-RP)}. A C-RP is a router configured to send

periodic Candidate-RP-Advertisement messages to the BSR, and act

      as an RP when it receives Join/Prune or Register messages for
      the advertised group prefix.
  • {Designated Router (DR)}. The DR sets up multicast route

entries and sends corresponding Join/Prune and Register messages

      on behalf of directly-connected receivers and sources,
      respectively.  The DR may or may not be the same router as the
      IGMP Querier. The DR may or may not be the long-term, last-hop
      router for the group; a router on the LAN that has a lower
      metric route to the data source, or to the group's RP, may take
      over the role of sending Join/Prune messages.
  • {Incoming interface (iif)}. The iif of a multicast route entry

indicates the interface from which multicast data packets are

      accepted for forwarding. The iif is initialized when the entry
      is created.
  • {Join list}. The Join list is one of two lists of addresses that

is included in a Join/Prune message; each address refers to a

      source or RP.  It indicates those sources or RPs to which
      downstream receiver(s) wish to join.
  • {Last-hop router}. The last-hop router is the last router to

receive multicast data packets before they are delivered to

      directly-connected member hosts. In general the last-hop router
      is the DR for the LAN.  However, under various conditions
      described in this document a parallel router connected to the
      same LAN may take over as the last-hop router in place of the
      DR.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 62] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

  • {Outgoing interface (oif) list}. Each multicast route entry has

an oif list containing the outgoing interfaces to which

      multicast packets should be forwarded.
  • {Prune List}. The Prune list is the second list of addresses

that is included in a Join/Prune message. It indicates those

      sources or RPs from which downstream receiver(s) wish to prune.
  • {PIM Multicast Border Router (PMBR)}. A PMBR connects a PIM

domain to other multicast routing domain(s).

  • {Rendezvous Point (RP)}. Each multicast group has a shared-tree

via which receivers hear of new sources and new receivers hear

      of all sources. The RP is the root of this per-group shared
      tree, called the RP-Tree.
  • {RP-Set}. The RP-Set is a set of RP addresses constructed by

the BSR based on Candidate-RP advertisements received. The RP-

      Set information is distributed to all PIM routers in the BSR's
      PIM domain.
  • {Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF)}. RPF is used to select the

appropriate incoming interface for a multicast route entry . The

      RPF neighbor for an IP address X is the the next-hop router used
      to forward packets toward X. The RPF interface is the interface
      to that RPF neighbor. In the common case this is the next hop
      used by the unicast routing protocol for sending unicast packets
      toward X. For example, in cases where unicast and multicast
      routes are not congruent, it can be different.
  • {Route entry.} A multicast route entry is state maintained in a

router along the distribution tree and is created, and updated

      based on incoming control messages.  The route entry may be
      different from the forwarding entry; the latter is used to
      forward data packets in real time. Typically a forwarding entry
      is not created until data packets arrive, the forwarding entry's
      iif and oif list are copied from the route entry, and the
      forwarding entry may be flushed and recreated at will.
  • {Shortest path tree (SPT)}. The SPT is the multicast

distribution tree created by the merger of all of the shortest

      paths that connect receivers to the source (as determined by
      unicast routing).
  • {Sparse Mode (SM)}. SM is one mode of operation of a multicast

protocol. PIM SM uses explicit Join/Prune messages and

      Rendezvous points in place of Dense Mode PIM's and DVMRP's
      broadcast and prune mechanism.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 63] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

  • {Wildcard (WC) multicast route entry}. Wildcard multicast route

entries are those entries that may be used to forward packets

      for any source sending to the specified group. Wildcard bots in
      the join list of a Join/Prune message represent either a (*,G)
      or (*,*,RP) join; in the prune list they represent a (*,G)
      prune.
  • {(S,G) route entry}. (S,G) is a source-specific route entry. It

may be created in response to data packets, Join/Prune messages,

      or Asserts. The (S,G) state in routers creates a source-rooted,
      shortest path (or reverse shortest path) distribution tree.
      (S,G)RPT bit entries are source-specific entries on the shared
      RP-Tree; these entries are used to prune particular sources off
      of the shared tree.
  • {(*,G) route entry}. Group members join the shared RP-Tree for

a particular group. This tree is represented by (*,G) multicast

      route entries along the shortest path branches between the RP
      and the group members.
  • {(*,*,RP) route entry}. (*,*,RP) refers to any source and any

multicast group that maps to the RP included in the entry. The

      routers along the shortest path branches between a domain's
      RP(s) and its PMBRs keep (*,*,RP) state and use it to determine
      how to deliver packets toward the PMBRs if data packets arrive
      for which there is not a longer match. The wildcard group in the
      (*,*,RP) route entry is represented by a group address of
      224.0.0.0 and a mask length of 4 bits.
 References

1. Deering, S., D.Estrin, D.Farinacci, V.Jacobson, C.Liu, L.Wei,

   P.Sharma, and A.Helmy.  Protocol independent multicast (pim) :
   Motivation and architecture. Work in Progress.

2. Deering, S., D.Estrin, D.Farinacci, V.Jacobson, C.Liu, and L.Wei.

   The pim architecture for wide-area multicast routing.
   ACM Transactions on Networks, April 1996.

3. Estrin, D., D.Farinacci, V.Jacobson, C.Liu, L.Wei, P.Sharma, and

   A.Helmy.  Protocol independent multicast-dense mode (pim-dm) :
   Protocol specification.  Work in Progress.

4. Deering, S. Host extensions for ip multicasting, Aug 1989. RFC1112.

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 64] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

5. Fenner, W. Internet group management protocol, version 2.

   Work in Progress.

6. Atkinson, R. Security architecture for the internet protocol,

   August 1995. RFC-1825.

7. Ballardie, A.J., P.F. Francis, and J.Crowcroft. Core based trees.

   In Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM, San Francisco, 1993.
 Addresses of Authors:
 Deborah Estrin
 Computer Science Dept/ISI
 University of Southern Calif.
 Los Angeles, CA 90089 
 estrin@usc.edu
 Dino Farinacci
 Cisco Systems Inc.
 170 West Tasman Drive,
 San Jose, CA 95134
 dino@cisco.com
 Ahmed Helmy
 Computer Science Dept.
 University of Southern Calif.
 Los Angeles, CA 90089
 ahelmy@catarina.usc.edu
 David Thaler
 EECS Department
 University of Michigan
 Ann Arbor, MI 48109
 thalerd@eecs.umich.edu
 Stephen Deering
 Xerox PARC
 3333 Coyote Hill Road
 Palo Alto, CA 94304
 deering@parc.xerox.com

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 65] RFC 2117 PIM-SM June 1997

 Mark Handley
 Department of Computer Science
 University College London
 Gower Street
 London, WC1E 6BT
 UK
 m.handley@cs.ucl.ac.uk
 Van Jacobson
 Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
 1 Cyclotron Road
 Berkeley, CA 94720
 van@ee.lbl.gov
 Ching-gung  Liu
 Computer Science Dept.
 University of Southern Calif.
 Los Angeles, CA 90089
 charley@catarina.usc.edu
 Puneet Sharma
 Computer Science Dept.
 University of Southern Calif.
 Los Angeles, CA 90089
 puneet@catarina.usc.edu
 Liming Wei
 Cisco Systems Inc.
 170 West Tasman Drive,
 San Jose, CA 95134
 lwei@cisco.com

Estrin, et. al. Experimental [Page 66]

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