RFC 1054 (rfc1054) - Page 1 of 19
Host extensions for IP multicasting
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group S. Deering Request for Comments: 1054 Stanford University Obsoletes: RFC 988 May 1988 Host Extensions for IP Multicasting 1. STATUS OF THIS MEMO This memo specifies the extensions required of a host implementation of the Internet Protocol (IP) to support multicasting. It is proposed as a standard for IP multicasting in the Internet. This specification is a major revision of RFC-988; changes from RFC-988 are listed in an Appendix. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. 2. INTRODUCTION IP multicasting is defined as the transmission of an IP datagram to a "host group", a set of zero or more hosts identified by a single IP destination address. A multicast datagram is delivered to all members of its destination host group with the same "best-efforts" reliability as regular unicast IP datagrams, i.e., the datagram is not guaranteed to arrive intact at all members of the destination group or in the same order relative to other datagrams. The membership of a host group is dynamic; that is, hosts may join and leave groups at any time. There is no restriction on the location or number of members in a host group. A host may be a member of more than one group at a time. A host need not be a member of a group to send datagrams to it. A host group may be permanent or transient. A permanent group has a well-known, administratively assigned IP address. It is the address, not the membership of the group, that is permanent; at any time a permanent group may have any number of members, even zero. Those IP multicast addresses that are not reserved for permanent groups are available for dynamic assignment to transient groups which exist only as long as they have members. Internetwork forwarding of IP multicast datagrams is handled by "multicast routers" which may be co-resident with, or separate from, internet gateways. A host transmits an IP multicast datagram as a local network multicast which reaches all immediately-neighboring members of the destination host group. If the datagram has an IP time-to-live greater than 1, the multicast router(s) attached to the local network take responsibility for forwarding it towards all other networks that have members of the destination group. On those other member networks that are reachable within the IP time-to-live, an Deering
