How the N-Tron®️ Series Ethernet Switches Protect a Network from Multicast Related Issues

Since the advent of the computer, many technological developments have later followed in helping improve how information and data is shared. Of course, in all its benefits, technology is not foolproof, and plenty issues have arisen as a result. Multicast, which is a communication method via ethernet, is a type of connection where data from one destination can be sent to multiple destinations at the same time, per After Academy. In contrast, it offers a different multitasking communicative component than that of other computer network castings.

But with pros, there are also cons, which is why developers have worked to create and implement tools that can circumvent potential issues. With this in mind, what are the best practices that help mitigate a possible malfunction of data transferring via multicast?

Host of “The Lion’s Den,” Tyler Kern, sat down with Barry Turner, the technical business development manager at Red Lion, about implementing multicast and the ways to prevent technical issues.

Kern and Turner also talked about …

• The differences between multicast versus unicast and broadcast
  How the IGMP snooping method for network switches helps control traffic
  The benefits of having a good backup system for possible multicast issues

“The multicast, as long as it’s configured properly when it switches, you’re good to go — you’re in good shape. But if you misconfigure it, it will cause problems, or can cause problems on your network and a lot times as the network grows and gets bigger and bigger, it becomes more apparent than the problem is there so you may be misconfigured, but your network traffic may be low enough it doesn’t actually manifest in downtime … So, a better approach is to have the right networking equipment — maybe something that actually supports automatic IGMP snoop, so you don’t have to worry about that at all,” said Turner.

Barry Turner has worked at Red Lion for 10 years and was previously a sales engineering manager with the company. Prior to that, he worked as a Network Engineer at N-Tron.