BROADCAST

Broadcast routing refers to the process of sending a message from one source to
multiple or all destinations in a network. It is commonly used in scenarios
where information needs to be distributed to many recipients, such as weather
updates, stock market reports, or live broadcasts. The goal is to ef ciently
distribute packets while minimizing bandwidth usage and processing overhead.
Here's an explanation of the key methods for broadcast routing discussed in the
text:

1. Individual Packets to Each Destination

• Description: The source sends a distinct packet to each destination.

• Advantages: Simple to implement; does not require any special network
features.
• Disadvantages: Wasteful of bandwidth and slow; requires the source to
know all destinations, which is often impractical.
2. Multidestination Routing

• Description: Each packet contains a list of destinations or a bit map

indicating the target destinations. Routers split the destinations among
their output lines and forward modi ed packets accordingly.
• Advantages: Uses bandwidth more ef ciently compared to individual
packets.
• Disadvantages: Still requires the source to know all destinations; routers
must perform complex processing to partition destinations.
3. Flooding

• Description: Every router forwards the received packet to all its

neighbors, ensuring the packet reaches every destination. To avoid in nite
loops, ooding can use a sequence number to track packets.
• Advantages: Simple and ensures full coverage.
• Disadvantages: Can lead to excessive duplication of packets and
inef cient bandwidth use.
4. Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF)

• Description: When a router receives a broadcast packet, it checks if the

packet arrived via the preferred path to the source. If yes, it forwards the
packet to all links except the one it came from. If no, the packet is
discarded as a duplicate.
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 • Advantages: More ef cient than ooding; avoids duplication of packets
on the same link; requires routers to only know how to route packets to
the source, not full sequence numbers or destination lists.
• Disadvantages: Still generates some duplicates, though fewer than
ooding.
5. Spanning Tree-Based Broadcasting

• Description: Uses a spanning tree (a loop-free subset of the network

covering all nodes) to route packets. Each router forwards the packet
along its spanning tree links, except the incoming link.
• Advantages: Minimizes the number of packets sent, achieving optimal
bandwidth usage.
• Disadvantages: Requires each router to know the spanning tree structure.
This information may not always be readily available, depending on the
routing protocol.
Summary of Ef ciency:

• Individual packets: High bandwidth usage, low complexity.

• Multidestination routing: Improved bandwidth usage, higher complexity.
• Flooding: Simple but inef cient.
• Reverse Path Forwarding: Balance of ef ciency and simplicity.
• Spanning Tree: Most ef cient but requires additional knowledge of the
network topology.

MULTICASTING

Multicast is a technique used in computer networking to ef ciently send data to

multiple receivers in a network. It is especially useful in scenarios such as
multiplayer games or live video streaming, where data packets need to be sent
to multiple users simultaneously. Multicasting ensures that messages are
delivered to speci c groups of receivers, rather than broadcasting to all nodes in
the network, which can be wasteful.

Key Features of Multicasting:

1. Ef cient Group Communication: Multicasting is designed for well-

de ned groups that are large in size but small relative to the entire
network. It sends messages to these groups using specialized multicast
routing algorithms.
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 2. Spanning Trees for Ef ciency: Multicast routing leverages spanning
trees, which are sub-networks that connect all the relevant group
members while minimizing the use of network links.
3. Pruning for Optimization: In dense groups where many network nodes
are not part of the multicast group, the spanning tree is pruned. This
removes unnecessary links, ensuring only the paths leading to group
members are used, saving bandwidth.
4. Core-Based Trees for Sparse Groups: In sparse groups, a single shared
spanning tree, known as a core-based tree, is used. All messages are
routed through a central node (core) before being distributed to group
members. This approach minimizes storage and computation
requirements for the routers.
Multicast Protocols:

• MOSPF (Multicast OSPF): Uses link-state routing and constructs

pruned spanning trees for multicast groups.
• DVMRP (Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol): Uses reverse
path forwarding and PRUNE messages to recursively remove
unnecessary links.
• PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast): Commonly used for sparse
groups, employing core-based trees for ef ciency.
Examples of Spanning Trees:

• Dense groups may start with a broadcast spanning tree, which is then
pruned to remove irrelevant links, resulting in a multicast spanning tree.
• Sparse groups use a core-based tree, where all routers agree on a core.
Messages are sent to the core and distributed along the tree.
Bene ts of Multicasting:

• Reduces bandwidth usage by limiting data transmission to relevant

network paths.
• Saves computational resources by requiring less storage and fewer trees
for sparse groups.
• Supports ef cient communication for large-scale group applications.
Multicasting is a cornerstone of modern network design, enabling scalable and
ef cient communication for applications ranging from video streaming to
collaborative tools.

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