Multicasting on the Internet and its Applications

This book covers the entire spectrum of multicasting on the Internet from link- to application-layer issues, including multicasting in broadcast and non-broadcast links, multicast routing, reliable and real-time multicast transport, group membership and total ordering in multicast groups. In-depth consideration is given to describing IP multicast routing protocols, such as, DVMRP, MOSPF, PIM and CBT, quality of service issues in network-layer using RSVP and ST-2, as well as the relationship between ATM and IP multicast. These discussions include coverage of key concepts using illustrative diagrams and various real-world applications. The protocols and the architecture of MBone are described, real-time multicast transport issues are addressed and various reliable multicast transport protocols are compared both conceptually and analytically. Also included is a discussion of video multicast and other research on multicast with an assessment of their potential impact on future internetworks. This text should be a useful reference work for networking professionals and researchers, network software developers, information technology managers and graduate students.