RFC 3170 (rfc3170) - Page 2 of 28
IP Multicast Applications: Challenges and Solutions
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 3170 IP Multicast Applications September 2001 4.2 Delay Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 5. Unique Multicast Service Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 5.1 Address Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 5.2 Session Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 5.3 Heterogeneous Receiver Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 5.4 Reliable Data Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 5.5 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 5.6 Synchronized Play-Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 6. Service APIs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 8. Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 9. References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 10. Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 11. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 1. Introduction IP Multicast will play a prominent role on the Internet in the coming years. It is a requirement, not an option, if the Internet is going to scale. Multicast allows application developers to add more functionality without significantly impacting the network. Developing multicast-enabled applications is ostensibly simple. Having datagram access allows any application to send to a multicast address. A multicast application need only increase the Internet Protocol (IP) time-to-live (TTL) value to more than 1 (the default value) to allow outgoing datagrams to traverse routers. To receive a multicast datagram, applications join the multicast group, which transparently generates an [IGMPv2, IGMPv3] group membership report. This apparent simplicity is deceptive, however. Enabling multicast support in applications and protocols that can scale well on a heterogeneous network is a significant challenge. Specifically, sending constant bit rate datastreams, reliable data delivery, security, and managing many-to-many communications all require special consideration. Some solutions are available, but many of these services are still active research areas. 1.1 Motivation The purpose of this document is to provide a framework for understanding the challenges of designing and implementing multicast applications. In order to use multicast communications correctly, application developers must first understand the various I/O models and the network services (in addition to basic multicast communication) that are required. Secondly, application developers Quinn, et al. Informational
