Multicasting
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== How Multicasting Works == | == How Multicasting Works == | ||
| - | multicasting | + | Multicasting is an intrinsically complex technology. This fact is still a main reason why it has not been adopted by every company that deals with large network systems. Broadcasting and unicasting however are relatively easy to implement and so they are chosen over multicasting despite their lack of efficiency. |
| + | At the msot basic level, multicasting can only be achieved with communication between the source and the destination. A source and receiver will both use a multicast group IP Address to communicate through the network to enable the transmission of the data that is intended to be sent. The source will put this address within the datagram being sent and the receiver will inform the network that they want to receive whatever is sent to that multicast group address. | ||
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== Advantages of Multicasting == | == Advantages of Multicasting == | ||
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Revision as of 20:54, 12 April 2009
Multicasting is a type of internet addressing system where only interested receivers are sent the requested information. This was created to be a more efficient means of broadcasting where information would be sent to every node in the network. Multicasting uses the most efficient routes to transfer the data and only copies the information being sent when a fork in the route occurs. Prior to multicasting, if a user needed to send the same data to N users, the user would need to copy that data N times and send it to each receiver. This creates a high amount of strain on servers, as well as large amounts of traffic over the network. Multicasting however needs only one transmission of this data, and will optimize the path that the data takes to reach each desired user.
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Different Types of IP Addressing
Unicast
Broadcast
Multicast
Anycast
In the anycast IP addressing scheme, the closest appropriate server is located and the packet is sent to it. The appropriate server will offer a service that the client needs, and so if multiple servers offer this same service, the packet can go to 'any' of these servers(however the closest server is deemed the most appropriate). This is where the name anycasting is derived from. Anycasting is advantageous because it simplifies the task of locating servers.
How Multicasting Works
Multicasting is an intrinsically complex technology. This fact is still a main reason why it has not been adopted by every company that deals with large network systems. Broadcasting and unicasting however are relatively easy to implement and so they are chosen over multicasting despite their lack of efficiency. At the msot basic level, multicasting can only be achieved with communication between the source and the destination. A source and receiver will both use a multicast group IP Address to communicate through the network to enable the transmission of the data that is intended to be sent. The source will put this address within the datagram being sent and the receiver will inform the network that they want to receive whatever is sent to that multicast group address.
