Re: Use of SAP in a PIM SSM Network

[Toerless Eckert <eckert@cisco.com>]

> Encouraging the use of static Class D addresses sets a bad precedent
> and I don't think we should be encouraging this. The broadcasters
> and content providers have static host names which can be
> used for rendezvousing and the source address and group address should
> be able to float as needed to meet demand. End users will not be
> aware of the group address being used under most circumstances
> anyway.

Agreed. What i was thinking of as a possible operational improvement would
be to have some operational SSM document in which to recommend a specific
randomn number generator for selecting the SSM address to use, and have this
generator be seeded by some combination of AS number and source ip address
to be used for the channel, so that we gett less MAC-level ambiguities of
the SSM groups being used. 

Would just need someone with more insight and time to come up with good
recommendaations for this. I think if you could show just by some good
simulation, that you could get collision rate at MAC layer down by a few
factors over completely random assignment, then it would be good enough
to have this for all practical purposes.

Dunno how much one could practically achieve with this though...

Cheers
	Toerless