To receive and transmit multicast data, stations (clients) use multicast protocols to access a group or a channel over different networks. Distribution of stock quotes, video transmissions such as news services and remote classrooms, and video conferencing are all examples of applications that use multicast routing.
Extreme devices support the following multicast protocols: Protocol-Independent Multicast (PIM) and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP).
With the reverse path lookup and pruning features of PIM, source-specific multicast delivery trees reach all group members. Each source and destination host group has its own multicast tree.
IPv4 hosts use IGMP to report their multicast group memberships to immediate neighboring multicast routers.
For more information, see IPv4 Multicast Routing.