Chapter 9. Multicast in a Virtualized Environment

This chapter discusses how to carry multicast data in a virtualized network environment. There are two main transport architectures: point-to-point (p2p) and multicast virtual private network (mVPN). We examine each in turn, with a discussion of the design tradeoffs and an example to show the basic configuration steps involved.

In a virtualized network, the multicast source and recipient are not always in the same Virtual Network (VN). Therefore, we discuss how you must configure these devices to support scenarios when the source is in the same VPN routing and forwarding instance (VRF), a different VRF, or in the global routing table.

All these discussions assume a familiarity with the basic concepts of multicast, such as reverse path forwarding (RPF) checking, shared trees, and the rudiments of Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) operation. Therefore, we start the chapter with a short introduction to IP multicast, which you can safely skip if you are already familiar with the content.