An efficient approach for load-shared and fault-tolerant multicore shared tree multicasting.

Multicasting can be done in two different ways: source based tree approach and shared tree approach. Shared tree approach is preferred over source-based tree approach because in the later construction of minimum cost tree per source is needed unlike a single shared tree in the former approach. However, in shared tree approach a single core needs to handle the entire traffic load resulting in degraded multicast performance. Besides, it also suffers from ‘single point failure’. In this paper, novel and efficient schemes for load shared multicore multicasting are presented. Multiple cores are selected statically, that is, independent of any existing multicast groups and also the selection process is independent of any underlying unicast protocol. Some of the selected cores can be used for fault-tolerant purpose also to guard against any possible core failures.