Subscriber Secure Policy Support for IPv4 Multicast Traffic
IP multicast traffic is used for applications such as audio or video streaming, IPTV, video conferencing, or online gaming. Multicast traffic is sent to multiple subscribers who have joined a multicast group.
Secure subscriber policy allows for the mirroring of IPv4 multicast traffic sent to a specific subscriber. If multiple subscribers whose traffic requires mirroring join the same multicast session, the subscriber secure policy feature mirrors each subscriber’s traffic and forwards it separately to the mediation device with the proper prepended header.
Mirroring of multicast traffic is supported only for subscribers in the default logical system.
You can enable and disable the mirroring of multicast traffic on a per-chassis basis. You cannot enable or disable it on a per-subscriber basis.
Triggering the Mirroring of IPv4 Multicast Traffic
Multicast traffic being sent towards a subscriber does not contain much of the identifying information used to trigger mirroring of a subscriber’s unicast traffic. For example, the multicast packet contains the multicast group address in the destination address of the packet instead of the subscriber’s IP address. It also does not contain the user name or MAC address of the subscriber, and does not include information obtained by RADIUS or DHCP. Therefore, methods of identifying multicast traffic that is received by a subscriber are not the same as methods of identifying a subscriber’s unicast traffic or multicast traffic that is sent by a subscriber.
To join a multicast group, a subscriber sends an IGMP join request, and it receives a reply. The reply contains the multicast groups to which the subscriber is registered. Triggering the mirroring of multicast traffic is based on the sending of the IGMP join request and the information in the IGMP reply. If the subscriber’s unicast traffic is already being mirrored either through DTCP-initiated or RADIUS-initiated traffic mirroring, and the subscriber sends an IGMP join request, mirroring of multicast traffic sent to the subscriber is initiated. The traffic being mirrored is based on the groups contained in the IGMP reply.