Patent ID: 9544240
Date: 2017-01-10
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for path maximum transmission unit (PMTU) discovery (PMTUD) for a multicast distribution implemented in a network using bit indexed explicit replication (BIER) architecture, the network having a set of bit forwarding routers (BFRs) that form a BIER domain including at least one ingress BFR (BFIR) and a set of egress BFRs (BFERs), the method improving efficiency of the PMTUD by limiting probe packet traffic, the method comprising: selecting a BFER from the set of BFERs in the BIER domain to be processed; generating a probe packet to the selected BFER using a current MTU; sending the probe packet to the selected BFER; and updating the current MTU and adding BFERs identified by a response to the probe packet to the set of BFERs in the BIER domain to be processed.