Reverse-path forwarding
multicast routing technique to minimize loops and enhance security
Reverse-path forwarding (RPF) is a technique used in modern routers for the purposes of ensuring loop-free forwarding of multicast packets in multicast routing and to help prevent IP address spoofing in unicast routing.
In standard unicast IP routing, the router forwards the packet away from the source to make progress along the distribution tree and prevent routing loops. In contrast, the router's multicast forwarding state runs more logically by organizing tables based on the reverse path, from the receiver back to the root of the distribution tree at the source of the multicast. This approach is known as reverse-path forwarding.
Multicast RPF
Multicast RPF, typically denoted simply as RPF, is used in conjunction with a multicast routing protocol such as Multicast Source Discovery Protocol or Protocol Independent Multicast to ensure loop-free forwarding of multicast packets. In multicast routing, the decision to forward traffic is based upon source address and not on destination address as in unicast routing. It does this by utilizing either a dedicated multicast routing table or, alternatively, the router's unicast routing table.
When a multicast packet enters a router's interface, the router looks up the list of networks that are reachable via that interface (i.e., it checks the paths by which the packet could have arrived). If the router finds a matching routing entry for the source IP address of the multicast packet, the RPF check passes and the packet is forwarded to all other interfaces that are participating in that multicast group. If the RPF check fails, the packet is dropped.
The public source identifies “Reverse-path forwarding” as multicast routing technique to minimize loops and enhance security. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Reverse-path, forwarding and multicast.
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This entry incorporates text from “Reverse-path forwarding” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.