Overview of IP Multicast in a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Environment

This document offers a framework for IP multicast deployment in an MPLS environment. Issues arising when MPLS techniques are applied to IP multicast are overviewed. The pros and cons of existing IP multicast routing protocols in the context of MPLS are described and the relation to the different trigger methods and label distribution modes are discussed. The consequences of various layer 2 (L2) technologies are listed. Both point-to-point and multi-access networks are considered.