Configuration Task List 705
multicast information from Source travels from Switch A to Switch B and then to 
Switch C.
Multicast Traceroute The multicast traceroute utility is used to trace the path that a multicast stream 
flows down from the multicast source to the last-hop router.
Concepts in multicast traceroute
1 Last-hop router: If a router has one of its interfaces connecting to the subnet the 
given destination address is on, and if the router is able to forward multicast 
streams from the given multicast source onto that subnet, that router is called 
last-hop router.
2 First-hop router: the router that directly connects to the multicast source.
3 Querier: the router requesting the multicast traceroute.
Introduction to multicast traceroute packets
A multicast traceroute packet is a special IGMP packet, which differs from 
common IGMP packets in that its IGMP Type field is set to 0x1F or 0x1E and that 
its destination IP address is a unicast address. There are three types of multicast 
traceroute packets:
■ Query, with the IGMP Type field set to 0x1F,
■ Request, with the IGMP Type field set to 0x1F, and
■ Response, with the IGMP Type field set to 0x1E.
Process of multicast traceroute
1 The querier sends a query to the last-hop router.
2 Upon receiving the query, the last-hop router turns the query packet into a request 
packet by adding a response data block containing its interface addresses and 
packet statistics to the end of the packet, and forwards the request packet via 
unicast to the previous hop for the given multicast source and group.
3 From the last-hop router to the multicast source, each hop adds a response data 
block to the end of the request packet and unicasts it to the previous hop.
4 When the first-hop router receives the request packet, it changes the packet type 
to indicate a response packet, and then sends the completed packet via unicast to 
the multicast traceroute querier.
Configuration Task 
List
Complete these tasks to configure multicast routing and forwarding:
Task  Remarks 
“Enabling IP Multicast Routing” on page 706  Required 
“Configuring Multicast Static Routes” on page 706  Optional 
“Configuring a Multicast Route Match Rule” on page 707  Optional 
“Configuring Multicast Load Splitting” on page 707  Optional 
“Configuring a Multicast Forwarding Range” on page 707  Optional 
“Configuring the Multicast Forwarding Table Size” on page 708  Optional 
“Tracing a Multicast Path” on page 708  Optional