IP Multicast Support in DOCSIS 3.

0
Greg White Lead Architect Broadband Access CableLabs

Outline
Key New Features Technical Overview

9/29/2006

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Source Specific Multicast-SSM

Feature Description
Delivery of multimedia (audio/video) services from one source to multiple subscribers CPEs (IPv4 & IPv6) based on customer request

Why was this incorporated?

Previous versions did not support MSO directed multicast (any member of the multicast group could transmit)

Benefits
Enables operators to offer broadcast-like services over DOCSIS network based on subscriber demand (e.g. IPTV service) Enables bandwidth efficient on-demand multimedia services as compared with unicast Facilitates offering of interactive video/audio and data services

Requirements and restrictions for deployment

Requires DOCSIS 3.0 specifications compliant CMTS & 1.1 or greater CM
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QoS Support for Multicast

Feature Description
Provides guaranteed bandwidth for multicast sessions Provides ability to control the amount of bandwidth that can be used by multicast traffic that is not part of an MSO service offering

Why was this incorporated?

Required to offer entertainment quality video services over DOCSIS network

Benefits
Enables differentiation of QoS-enabled multicast services Enables service level guarantees to be offered to the end customer Enables offering of QoS-enabled packages to third parties

Requirements and restrictions for deployment

- Requires DOCSIS 3.0 specifications compliant CMTS & 1.1 or greater CM - Cable operator needs to configure QoS parameters for various multicast sessions
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PHS for Multicast

Feature Description Ability to suppress multicast packet headers Why was this incorporated? MSO requested addition of this feature Benefits Provides bandwidth savings for bandwidth intensive multicast services such as IPTV Enables MSOs to transmit more multicast sessions for a given amount of downstream channel spectrum Requirements and restrictions for deployment - Requires DOCSIS 3.0 specifications compliant CMTS & 3.0 CM

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Enhanced Multicast Authorization

Feature Description Ability to provide conditional access mechanism for multicast services Ability to limit the number of simultaneous multicast sessions offered to a subscriber Centralized management of multicast service tiers Why was this incorporated? To simplify and enhance the solution specified in earlier version of DOCSIS specification Benefits Enables operators to offer tiered (Gold, Silver, etc.) broadcast-like video services over DOCSIS network (e.g. IPTV) Enables offering of multicast-enabled service packages to third party service providers Requirements and restrictions for deployment - Requires DOCSIS 3.0 specifications compliant CMTS & 1.1 or greater CM
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Technical Overview
Removal of IGMP Snooping at the CM DSID Labelling CMTS initiated DSID Signalling DSID-based filtering and forwarding by the CM

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IGMP Snooping in 1.1/2.0 CM

DOCSIS 1.1/2.0 required the CM to snoop IGMPv2 join messages sent by CPEs behind the CM Establishes forwarding of multicast packets addressed to ASM groups (G) joined by the CPEs DOCSIS 3.0 requires support for IGMPv3 that enables clients to join Source Specific Multicast channels DOCSIS 3.0 also requires support for multicast traffic for IPv6 clients that use Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) protocol MLDv1 to join ASM groups and MLDv2 to join SSM channels More than likely that future versions of DOCSIS may require support for other future multicast protocols
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No Snooping in 3.0 CM
Expanding CM snooping functionality to include aforementioned and future multicast protocols is not scalable and complicates CM implementation DOCSIS 3.0 removes the CM requirement to snoop IGMP join messages. The CM is required to transparently forward upstream join messages DOCSIS 3.0 defines a new CMTS-initiated signaling mechanism to enable forwarding of multicast packets in the CM
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DSID Labelling
CMTS labels all downstream multicast packets with a Downstream Service ID (DSID) label DSID is 20 bit field in the Downstream ServiceExtended Header (DS-EHDR) that identifies packets belonging to an IP Multicast Session (ASM or SSM) in a MAC domain
DSID is a forwarding criterion at the CM for multicast traffic

DSID also identifies all the packets in a resequencing context when downstream channel bonding is used for multicast packets
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DS EHDR Formats
New Extended Header (EHDR) in the DOCSIS MAC-Layer Frame header Three formats defined
1-Byte to carry Traffic Priority tag Layer 2 priority tagging for non-bonded unicast traffic 3-Byte to carry Traffic Priority & DSID DSID labeling for non-bonded multicast traffic 5-Byte to carry Traffic Priority, DSID & Seq. Number DSID label & Seq. Number for bonded traffic (multicast as well as unicast)
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DS-EHDRs for Multicast Packets

3-Byte DS EHDR for non-bonded multicast packet
T= 8 L= 5 P X DSID (20 bits)

5-Byte DS EHDR for bonded multicast packet

T= 8

L= 5

DSID (20 bits)

Sequence Number (16 bits)

Type (4 bits) = 8 Length (4 bits) = 6 P (3 bits) = Traffic Priority X (1 bit) = Reserved (unused) S (1 bit) = Sequence Change Count

DSID (20 bits) = Downstream Service ID (Identifies an IP Multicast Session) Sequence Number (16 bits) = Resequencing Context for bonded multicast packets
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Toggled by CMTS whenever Sequence Number is reset to zero

CMTS-initiated DSID Signaling

CMTS communicates DSIDs to the CM via:
MAC Domain Descriptor (MDD) For Pre-Registration IPv6 multicast traffic Registration Response (REG-RSP) For unicast bonded traffic and static multicast Dynamic Bonding Change Request (DBC-REQ) For joined multicast sessions

In REG-RSP and DBC-REQ, the CMTS communicates group forwarding attributes associated with DSID
MAC addresses of clients that joined the IP Multicast Session Cable Modem Interface Mask (CMIM) for statically joined clients such as eSAFE devices (e.g. eSTB, ePS)
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DSID Forwarding at CM
DSID is a CM filtering & forwarding criterion CM discards packets labelled with unknown DSIDs CM forwards Multicast Packets labelled with the DSID to a set of interfaces identified by the union of:
A set of interfaces derived from a list of client MAC addresses associated with a DSID, and; A set of interfaces identified in the Multicast CMIM associated with the DSID

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Thank You!

CableLabs

Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.

858 Coal Creek Circle Louisville, Colorado 80027-1266 Phone: 303-661-9100 Direct: 303-661-3822 Fax: 303-664-8192 Email: g.white@cablelabs.com http://www.cablelabs.com

Greg C. White

Lead Architect Broadband Access

9/29/2006

Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. 2006. All Rights Reserved. Proprietary/Confidential

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