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rp in multicast pim-sparse mode

Hello experts,

In my environment, the RP is statically assigned to each pim-enabled router and I am looking to change it to dynamically discover.
Regarding auto-rp in a pim-sparse environment, what do they mean by:

"When you configure an auto-RP router for PIM sparse mode, you must assign a static RP router to these two groups. You can then specify an RP mapping agent for other multicast groups."

I understand dynamic discover will take precedence over statically assigned. Does this mean I must leave the statically assigned RP on each router.

surbabu140977

No.

Auto-RP requires that you configure the RPs to announce their availability as RPs and mapping agents. The RPs use 224.0.1.39 to send their announcements. The RP mapping agent listens to the announced packets from the RPs, then sends RP-to-group mappings in a discovery message that is sent to 224.0.1.40. These discovery messages are used by the remaining routers for their RP-to-group map. You can use one RP that also serves as the mapping agent, or you can configure multiple RPs and multiple mapping agents for redundancy purposes

Source Router config
#####################
ip multicast-routing

ip pim send-rp-announce <interface> scope 16

ip pim send-rp-discovery

scope 16

interface loopback0
ip address <address> <mask>
ip pim sparse-dense-mode

interface ethernet0
ip address <address> <mask>
ip pim sparse-dense-mode

interface serial0
ip address <address> <mask>
ip pim sparse-dense-mode
###########################

Client/receiver router config
######################
ip multicast-routing

interface ethernet0
ip address <address> <mask>
ip pim sparse-dense-mode

interface serial0
ip address <address> <mask>
ip pim sparse-dense-mode
############################

The above is extract from the below link. You can go through the below quick config guide for brief understanding.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk828/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094821.shtml

Best,

trojan81

ASKER

thanks, however it does not answer my question regarding initial static setup.

Here's another quote regarding auto-rp in a sparse environment:

"Of course, there's a chicken and egg problem there: how can you send out multicast information via multicast if the Auto-RP information is needed to make PIM-SM work in the first place?
The other choice with PIM-SM only interfaces is to configure static RP addresses for the Auto-RP multicast groups (the multicast groups used by Auto-RP itself to communicate). That way, the static info gets the Auto-RP multicasts distributed in sparse mode, and then the Auto-RP mapping information allows the other multicast groups to be joined.

http://www.netcraftsmen.net/resources/archived-articles/375-ip-multicast-and-pim-rendezvous-points.html

trojan81

ASKER

also, the reason I am doing this is to have multiple RPs. I will have two. Is it good practice to have those two RPs also be Mapping agents to each other? Would that work?

Do the two RPs have to be MSDP peers?

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surbabu140977

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surbabu140977

btw, there is really not much admin overhead saving issue using auto RP or static RP. It's just a line difference. I generally leave it to sparse dense with static RP's. It's not like the dynamic routing vs static that it will save lot of admin overhead unless you are really into a very big multicast environment.

Best,

trojan81

ASKER

It's a big environment and I dont want the chance mcast failing to dense mode if the RP goes down..i'd rather have mcast fail all together :).

my auto-rp is working in the test lab. I picked two switches to announce itself as RPs and mapping agents. When I take down 1 rp, the other (with lower IP) picks up as the rp.

I kept everything on sparse mode and issued the autorp listener command.