MCAC bundle policy (shortened here to ‟MCAC policy” or ‟policy”) is used to define MCAC rules to be applied on an MCAC interface when receivers are trying to join multicast channels. Within each policy, an operator can define:
Multicast channel:
A channel can be defined using multicast group address only or both source and group addresses. Ranges can be used to group multiple multicast channels into a single MCAC channel. When ranges are used, each multicast channel within range uses the same channel BW (bandwidth), class, and priority configuration.
Channel BW: a bandwidth value to be used for a channel in MCAC.
Channel type (mandatory or optional): mandatory channels have BW pre-reserved on interfaces as soon as they are defined in MCAC policy, while optional channels consume BW on-demand; only when there are active receivers for that channel and the remaining BW allows for channels to be admitted.
Channel class: high and low classes are supported. For LAG interfaces, the class parameter allows further prioritizing of the mandatory or optional channels. This brings the number of priority levels to four during reshuffles of the joined channels when LAG ports are changing state.
Multicast channels not specified in an MCAC policy applicable on a specific interface are not subject to MCAC. Treatment of such channels is configurable as either accept or discard.
Multicast channel bundle:
Multicast bundle defines multicast channels as described above. A channel can only be part of one bundle.
Maximum bundle BW – the maximum bandwidth the channels forming a bundle can consume on an interface.
MCAC constraints – set of rules governing available BW for multicast channels over LAG as LAG ports are changing state.