Cyclic block allocation: A new scheme for hierarchical multicast address allocation

Abstract

This paper presents a new hierarchical multicast address allocation scheme for use in interdomain multicast. Our scheme makes use of masks that are contiguous but not prefix-based to provide significant improvements in performance. Our Cyclic Block Allocation (CBA) scheme shares some similarities with both Reverse Bit Expansion and kampai, but overcomes many shortcomings associated with these earlier techniques by exploiting techniques from the area of subcube allocation for hypercubes. Through static analysis and dynamic simulations, we show that CBA has the following characteristics that make it an excellent candidate for practical use in interdomain multicast protocols: better address utilization under dynamic requests and releases than other schemes; low blocking time; efficient routing tables; addresses reflect domain hierarchy; and compatibility with MASC architecture.