"MTP/SO: Self-Organizing Multicast", Joerg Ott, C. Bormann, N. Seifert,
12/04/1997.
(54401 bytes)
ftp://ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-bormann-mtp-so-01.txt
Multiparty cooperative applications have recently received much
attention, as has
the multicasting of datagrams in the internet. The internet
datagram multicasting
mechanism is not reliable, often requiring a higher level protocol
to achieve the level
of reliability required for an application. Much of the extensive
work on reliable
multicast protocols has assumed relatively stable groups that need
to ensure that all
messages are received by all members of this well-defined group.
Recently, work
on loosely coupled teleconferencing has directed attention to a
class of multicast
applications that scale up to an extent where this assumption is no
longer practical.
An interesting multicast transport protocol is defined in RFC 1301.
MTP provides
globally ordered, receiver reliable, rate controlled and atomic
transfer of messages
to multiple recipients. A revised, more practical version of MTP,
the Multicast
Transport Protocol MTP-2 has been in use for some time.
Self-Organizing Multicast,
MTP/SO, uses MTP-2 as a basis and adds spontaneous
self-organization of the
members of the group into local regions. Scalability is increased
by providing
passive group joining and local retransmission of lost packets.
This version of the
document is not yet complete but contains most of the vital parts.
-- Dan http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/