Multicast MAC Addresses for Standards Use

1
Multicast MAC Addresses for Standards Use

• Donald E. Eastlake 3rd
• Donald.Eastlake_at_motorola.com
• 1-508-786-7554

2
Mechanism

• This is a long recognized problem
• It is handled by the IEEE Registration Authority
  which was formed in 1986 (authorized by ISO/IEC)
• 0X-80-C2-00-00-00 to 0X-80-C2-FF-FF-FFare
  reserved for standards use where X1 for
  multicast and 0 for unicast
• Allocated values are listed in a small, expensive
  ISO standard document

3
Questions

• How many do we need?
• Should we request a small block?
• Example IEEE 802.1D MAC Bridge Filtered MAC
  Group Addresses are allocated01-80-C2-00-00-00
  to 01-80-C2-00-00-0FFrames with destination
  addresses in this range are not forwarded by
  802.1D conformant bridges
• A similar block could be requested for RBridges
• Donald Eastlake plans to meet informally next
  week with Tony Jeffree, chair of 802.1, to
  discuss allocation of multicast addresses for
  802.11s and will bring up TRILL requirements