Network design for streaming service on IP multicast over ATM

This paper considers streaming service, which is an application of multicast communications, and discusses the network configuration used in providing IP multicast over ATM. In IP multicast over ATM, conversion from the IP multicast address to the ATM address is required. One of the methods of making this conversion is to use a multicast address resolution server (MARS). In this system, the MARS manages the member information of the multicast group. When there is a change in the membership of the group because a host joins or leaves, that host sends an information renewal message to the MARS. In streaming service, there arises a time zone in which many renewal messages to MARS are generated due to program changes and the like, so that the MARS is heavily burdened. This paper considers the case in which streaming service is introduced via MARS, and analytically derives the transmission frequency of the information renewal messages. The relations between the transmission frequency, the characteristics of the program, and the network scale are identified. Based on the results of analysis and a consideration of the effect of other traffic on the network, an adequate network design principle capable of reducing the control traffic to the MARS is presented. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.