multicast tree

Group­shared trees 
The group-shared tree approach is more efficient from the router performance perspective. Only one 
tree is built for each group. The tree has its root in a designated router called rendezvous point (RP) or 
core router. All senders in a group forward their multicast datagrams to the RP encapsulated in  
unicast datagrams. The RP decapsulates the unicast and forwards the multicast datgrams along the 
tree. Since there are many senders in a group G, a group-shared tree is denoted (*,G). 
The RP is responsible for the shaping of a shortest path tree to all receivers with the RP as root. Other 
routers involved in the delivery of this group’s multicast datagrams do not build any trees, but of 
course they have to have control over how their part of the tree is constructed. 
 
Figure 1 A multicast group using source-based trees, one per 
active sender 
 
In Figure 2 the same group as in Figure 1 is shown, but this time a group-shared tree is formed. 
Senders S1 and S2 send their multicast datagrams to the RP as unicasts. The RP decapsulates and 
delivers the multicast datagram to the receivers along the shared tree. In this case the delivery path 
from S1 to R2 is not a shortest path, but the path from the RP to R2 is