Managing IPv4 and IPv6 Multicast 1153
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Managing IPv4 and IPv6 Multicast
This chapter describes how to configure and monitor layer 3 multicast 
features for IPv4 and IPv6, including global IP and IPv6 multicast features as 
well as multicast protocols, including IGMP, DVMRP, and PIM for IPv4 and 
MLD and PIM for IPv6.
The topics covered in this chapter include:
L3 Multicast Overview
IP Multicasting enables a network host (or multiple hosts) to send an IP 
datagram to multiple destinations simultaneously. The initiating host sends 
each multicast datagram only once to a destination multicast group address, 
and multicast routers forward the datagram only to hosts who are members of 
the multicast group. Multicast enables efficient use of network bandwidth 
because each multicast datagram needs to be transmitted only once on each 
network link, regardless of the number of destination hosts. Multicasting 
contrasts with IP unicasting, which sends a separate datagram to each 
recipient host. The IP routing protocols can route multicast traffic, but the IP 
multicast protocols handle the multicast traffic more efficiently with better 
use of network bandwidth.
• L3 Multicast Overview
• Default L3 Multicast Values
• Configuring General IPv4 
Multicast Features (Web)
• Configuring IPv6 Multicast 
Features (Web)
• Configuring IGMP and 
IGMP Proxy (Web)
• Configuring MLD and MLD 
Proxy (Web)
• Configuring PIM for IPv4 and 
IPv6 (Web)
• Configuring DVMRP (Web)
• Configuring L3 Multicast 
Features (CLI)
• L3 Multicast Configuration 
Examples