What Problems Does Multicast Solve?

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In this video, Knox Hutchinson covers the point of multicast. Multicast differs from unicast in important ways, but maybe the most important thing to ask is what problems multicast even solves. If you design networks, you'll need to design them with multicast in mind - but that can take up resources and time - so why bother?
Understanding multicasting requires a solid understanding of unicast. A unicast route is defined by one IP address (or node) communicating to another direct IP address (or node). To do that, a device forms a unicast packet that gets routed throughout the network until it reaches its direct endpoint.
A broadcast is typically used on ethernet segments. Generally speaking, if a device sends a broadcast to its local switch, unless that switch is trunked upward, the broadcasts would be sent out all the other ports on the same VLAN. The point of the broadcast is that it's a one-to-many, but it's contained within its Layer 2 segment.
But if you're trying to set up streaming data - like a video call - to multiple resources throughout the entire enterprise, multicast is how to accomplish it. Multicast is 1:many, and not restricted to VLAN - it's broadcast throughout the entire enterprise to any devices who want to hear it.
There are many different approaches and design techniques to implementing multicast, but fundamentally it's about making it possible for a 1:many relationship across an enterprise, in spite of VLANs and other obstacles.
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[@MarkMarquez]

Thank you for this CBT Nugget, very informative.

[@cbtnuggets]

We're glad you enjoyed it, Mark!

[@germancalderon1672]

thank you!!

[@scorpio_1312]

Thanks for sharing! I have a question though. If I am in my enterprise network doing a video conference using Webex or Teams, I'm l using multicast? Or multicast use case is only like when I have a DVR and I want to broadcast that content to clients on my network. Thanks in advance!

[@cbtnuggets]

Hi Carlos, thanks for your question! Each vendor will have their own direct answers, but from what we were able to find on Microsoft’s Tech Blog, Teams uses Unicast streams for live event playback: techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/live-events-now-generally-available-in-microsoft-teams/ba-p/386460

[@danepane527]

What's more interesting than the video is the comments.. didn't know you could embed external urls.. nice

[@charliecharliecharliecharl8554]

Is multicast just for sharing ,fe80 ipv6

[@adamsteele6148]

multicast ugh