RFC 2887 (rfc2887) - Page 1 of 22
The Reliable Multicast Design Space for Bulk Data Transfer
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group M. Handley
Request for Comments: 2887 S. Floyd
Category: Informational ACIRI
B. Whetten
Talarian
R. Kermode
Motorola
L. Vicisano
Cisco
M. Luby
Digital Fountain, Inc.
August 2000
The Reliable Multicast Design Space for Bulk Data Transfer
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
The design space for reliable multicast is rich, with many possible
solutions having been devised. However, application requirements
serve to constrain this design space to a relatively small solution
space. This document provides an overview of the design space and
the ways in which application constraints affect possible solutions.
1. Introduction
The term "general purpose reliable multicast protocol" is something
of an oxymoron. Different applications have different requirements
of a reliable multicast protocol, and these requirements constrain
the design space in ways that two applications with differing
requirements often cannot share a single solution. There are however
many successful reliable multicast protocol designs that serve more
special purpose requirements well.
In this document we attempt to review the design space for reliable
multicast protocols intended for bulk data transfer. The term bulk
data transfer should be taken as having broad meaning - the main
limitations are that the data stream is continuous and long lived -
Handley, et al. Informational
