Multicast PIM Register Message

Multicast PIM sparse mode uses a unidirectional shared tree and multicast traffic can only flow down the tree. Multicast sources somehow have to get their traffic to this shared tree so that it can flow down the tree towards the receivers. PIM sparse mode will let the RP join the SPT to the source so that it can receive the multicast traffic and let it flow down the multicast shared tree.

The trick is that the RP has to know that a source exists. We use PIM register and PIM register-stop messages to accomplish this.

PIM register messages are sent by the DR (Designated Router) on the segment where the source is. It does two things for us:

1. Notify the rendezvous point that the source is sending traffic towards a multicast group address.
2. Deliver the first multicast packet from the source to the RP so that it can be delivered to the shared tree. This first packet is encapsulated in a PIM register message.

Whenever a multicast source starts to transmit, the DR will catch the multicast packet and create a (S,G) entry in its multicast routing table. It will encapsulate multicast packets in IP packets and sends it by using unicast to the RP. When the RP receives this packet it will de-encapsulate the PIM register message, there are now two possibilities:

1. When the RP has listeners (receivers) for the multicast group it will join the SPT for the source so that it can receive the multicast traffic itself and forward it down the shared tree.
2. When the RP has no listeners it will discard the multicast packets and it won’t send a join towards the source.

As soon as the RP has build the SPT towards the source it will send a PIM register-stop message to the DR when it has build the SPT to the source OR when it has no active listeners. As a result the DR will stop the PIM registration process and it will stop encapsulating multicast traffic in PIM register packets.

Anyway enough talk…let’s take a look at an actual topology so I can demonstrate to you how PIM register works!

In the example above we have 4 routers configured for multicast:

• R1 is the source for our multicast traffic.
• R2 will be the designated router, receiving multicast traffic from R1.
• R3 is the rendezvous point.
• R4 is the receiver for our multicast traffic.

OSPF has been configured so that we have full reachability between the 4 routers. First we will enable multicast routing and PIM sparse mode on all routers:

R1(config)#ip multicast-routing      
R1(config)#ip pim rp-address 3.3.3.3
R1(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0     
R1(config-if)#ip pim sparse-mode

R2(config)#ip multicast-routing 
R2(config)#ip pim rp-address 3.3.3.3
R2(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0
R2(config-if)#ip pim sparse-mode 
R2(config-if)#interface fastEthernet 0/1
R2(config-if)#ip pim sparse-mode  

R3(config)#ip multicast-routing
R3(config)#ip pim rp-address 3.3.3.3 
R3(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0
R3(config-if)#ip pim sparse-mode 
R3(config-if)#interface fastEthernet 0/1
R3(config-if)#ip pim sparse-mode        
R3(config-if)#interface loopback0  
R3(config-if)#ip pim sparse-mode

R4(config)#ip multicast-routing 

All routers are configured to use PIM sparse mode and to use R3’s loopback0 interface as the RP. I don’t need to configure PIM on R4 since it’s only the receiver. Let’s configure R4 to join a multicast group address:

R4(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0
R4(config-if)#ip igmp join-group 239.1.1.1

R3#show ip mroute 239.1.1.1
IP Multicast Routing Table
Flags: D - Dense, S - Sparse, B - Bidir Group, s - SSM Group, C - Connected,
       L - Local, P - Pruned, R - RP-bit set, F - Register flag,
       T - SPT-bit set, J - Join SPT, M - MSDP created entry,
       X - Proxy Join Timer Running, A - Candidate for MSDP Advertisement,
       U - URD, I - Received Source Specific Host Report,
       Z - Multicast Tunnel, z - MDT-data group sender,
       Y - Joined MDT-data group, y - Sending to MDT-data group
Outgoing interface flags: H - Hardware switched, A - Assert winner
 Timers: Uptime/Expires
 Interface state: Interface, Next-Hop or VCD, State/Mode

(*, 239.1.1.1), 00:00:22/00:02:37, RP 3.3.3.3, flags: SJC
  Incoming interface: Null, RPF nbr 0.0.0.0
  Outgoing interface list:
    FastEthernet0/1, Forward/Sparse, 00:00:22/00:02:37

You can see that R4 has joined the rendezvous point for the 239.1.1.1 multicast group address. Nobody is sending anything to this multicast group address however, let’s enable a debug on the RP and launch some multicast packets: