Information on configuring Multicast on routers, hubs, switches, and so on

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite
• Deployment Solution

Issue/Introduction

You want to use Ghost Multicast Server or Ghost Enterprise Console to communicate with Ghost client computers that are located on a different subnet. You want to know how to configure the network to allow multicast packets to be routed to other subnets.

Environment

GSS 3.x

DS 8.x

Resolution

Hubs, routers, and switches
Configuring a network to work with multicasting requires configuring the physical devices that connect the computers to each other. These are hubs, routers, and switches. A network uses hubs, routers, and switches to send information from one part of the network to another part. Hubs pass all the information they receive, without filtering it. Routers may filter some information, and switches usually filter information.

In most cases, hubs do not require any configuration. Configuration is required only in hubs that include capabilities that are normally found only in routers or switches.

Configuring for multicasting
Configuring a router or switch to use multicasting requires that the router or switch be IGMP capable. The specific steps that are used for configuring any particular router or switch require information that is specific to that router or switch. Information is usually available in the documentation that accompanies the router or switch, or from the manufacturer's Web site.

Note that correctly configuring a network requires an understanding of how network hardware handles multicasting and multicasting protocols. Symantec does not provide technical support for network configuration.

More information
If you suspect that your router or switch might not be correctly configured for multicasting, you can test this possibility by using a hub instead of a router or switch. If multicasting works when the computers are connected through a hub, and not when they are connected through a router or switch, the problem is probably due to the configuration of the router or switch or to the number of hops between the two computers.

For more information regarding network hops, see the information on the Ghost switch -JS in the document Switches: Alphabetical List of Switches.