Patent ID: 8804726

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a network device, a plurality of messages sent between a plurality of source devices and a plurality of destination devices, each of the plurality of messages being associated with transmission of content from a respective one of the plurality of source devices to a respective one of the plurality of destination devices, and each of the plurality of destination devices being connected to the network device via a corresponding one of a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs); extracting, by the network device and from the plurality of messages, information regarding the plurality of source devices and the plurality of destination devices; establishing, by the network device and based on the information, a multicast virtual local area network (MVLAN) that connects the network device to the plurality of destination devices via the plurality of VLANs, the establishing including: creating a multicast forwarding data structure including a plurality of entries associated with the plurality of destination devices, and associating one or more ports, of a plurality of ports associated with the network device, to each of the plurality of VLANs, and the MVLAN being established in at least one of a transparent mode or a proxy mode, the network device allowing, when the MVLAN is established in the transparent mode, access to one or more requests from the plurality of destination devices to join or to leave a plurality of multicast groups, and the network device, when the MVLAN is established in the proxy mode, allowing access only to a particular request, of the one or more requests from the plurality of destination devices, to join or to leave a particular one of the plurality of multicast groups associated with the MVLAN; receiving, by the network device, the content from a source device of the plurality of source devices; and multicasting, by the network device and based on the plurality of entries, the received content to the plurality of destination devices via the MVLAN.