Patent ID: 10129075

Abstract:
Techniques are described for enhancements to Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) to support multicast only fast re-route (MoFRR) over a remote loop free alternate (RLFA) backup path in a network. This disclosure describes a modified PIM control message having a new PIM message type and an additional field to indicate an address of a RLFA network device in the RLFA backup path. According to techniques of this disclosure, network devices along the RLFA backup path are configured to forward the modified PIM control message toward the RLFA network device instead of toward a source of a requested multicast group. When the RLFA network device receives the modified PIM control message, the RLFA network device is configured to forward a conventional PIM control message towards the source of the requested multicast group. In this way, PIM can be used to provide MoFRR over a RLFA backup path.