Which multicast technology provides a large, many-to-many connectivity for a new application while minimizing load on the existing network infrastructure?

Question

Options

• APIM Sparse Mode
• BBidirectional PIM
• CAny-Source Multicast
• DSource Specific Multicast

• A
  6% (1)
• B
  78% (14)
• C
  11% (2)
• D
  6% (1)

Explanation

Bidirectional PIM is correct because it uses a shared, bidirectional tree rooted at a Rendezvous Point (RP) where traffic flows both toward and away from the RP - making it uniquely suited for many-to-many applications. Crucially, it only maintains per-group state (not per-source state), so adding more sources doesn't multiply the state burden on routers, minimizing infrastructure load at scale.

PIM Sparse Mode (A) is wrong because while it supports many receivers, it's optimized for one-to-many traffic and builds per-source, shortest-path trees - creating significant state overhead as source count grows.

Any-Source Multicast (C) is a service model, not a technology/protocol - it describes the capability to receive from any source, and is actually implemented by PIM-SM or BIDIR-PIM, so it's not the answer.

Source Specific Multicast (D) is wrong because SSM is explicitly one-to-many: receivers must know and specify a single source address, making it unsuitable for many-to-many communication.

Memory tip: Think "BIdirectional = BIg groups, BIg savings" - when you need traffic flowing in both directions among many parties without exploding router state, BIDIR-PIM is the answer.

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