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PIM Sparse-Mode (PIM-SM)
Protocol-independent multicast sparse-mode (PIM-SM) is supported on Dell Networking OS.
PIM-SM is a multicast protocol that forwards multicast traffic to a subnet only after a request using a PIM
Join message; this behavior is the opposite of PIM-Dense mode, which forwards multicast traffic to all
subnets until a request to stop.
Implementation Information
The following information is necessary for implementing PIM-SM.
• The Dell Networking implementation of PIM-SM is based on IETF Internet Draft draft-ietf-pim-sm-v2-
new-05.
• The platform supports a maximum of 95 PIM interfaces and 2000 multicast entries including (*,G),
and (S,G) entries. The maximum number of PIM neighbors is the same as the maximum number of
PIM-SM interfaces.
• The SPT-Threshold is zero, which means that the last-hop designated router (DR) joins the shortest
path tree (SPT) to the source after receiving the first multicast packet.
• Dell Networking OS reduces the number of control messages sent between multicast routers by
bundling Join and Prune requests in the same message.
• Dell Networking OS supports PIM-SM on physical, virtual local area network (VLAN), and port-channel
interfaces.
NOTE: Multicast routing is supported across default and non-default VRFs.
Protocol Overview
PIM-SM initially uses unidirectional shared trees to forward multicast traffic; that is, all multicast traffic
must flow only from the rendezvous point (RP) to the receivers.
After a receiver receives traffic from the RP, PM-SM switches to SPT to forward multicast traffic. Every
multicast group has an RP and a unidirectional shared tree (group-specific shared tree).
Requesting Multicast Traffic
A host requesting multicast traffic for a particular group sends an Internet group management protocol
(IGMP) Join message to its gateway router.
The gateway router is then responsible for joining the shared tree to the RP (RPT) so that the host can
receive the requested traffic.
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PIM Sparse-Mode (PIM-SM)