Hosts attached to multicast-enabled networks influence and alter multicast forwarding and group state in network devices such as LAN switches and IP routers. In addition, data packets to multicast destinations may be replicated throughout the internetwork, which results in unconventional workloads when viewed in comparison to unicast traffic patterns. Either through suboptimal configuration or malicious intent, excessive or unwanted multicast data traffic and control state can be detrimental to the operation of a network. This is especially apparent in typical network configurations where both multicast and unicast devices co-mingle, resulting in shared fate. This talk describes some of the currently available options that may help mitigate the superfluous traffic and state that often plague multicast-enabled networks.

About the Presenter
John Kristoff is a network engineer in the Telecommunications and Network Services division at Northwestern University. He is primarily interested in TCP/IP-based networks and in particular end-to-end issues, switching/routing, multicast, and network security.