Troubleshooting multicast between VLANs

IP multicast is a method of forwarding the same network data to many hosts, something that is leveraged by Encoded Media products to provide efficient delivery of streaming data to multiple destinations.

An initial step in troubleshooting multicast particularly in relation to VLANs is to map out your Network Topology and identify the following devices:

  • TV Server or Omni-Server appliance (Source)
  • Multicast playback devices (Receivers)
  • VLANs

Then take the following steps:

  1. Confirm that unicast traffic flows between playback devices and the appliance
    Unicast traffic must be working before you can continue to troubleshoot multicast. One way to test unicast is to ping the server from each client. If the ping fails, you must contact your internal network administration team.
  2. Confirm that multicast traffic is being received by playback devices
    To do this, ensure that a playback device is returned to the same VLAN as the appliance.
    • If multicast is not received correctly, check that the playback device is not running a personal firewall which may intercept the data, and that the TV Server or Omni-Server appliance is correctly configured to broadcast multicast in the first place.
    • If multicast data is being received correctly, the TV Server or Omni-Server appliance is operating correctly and you must contact your internal network administration team to establish why the data is not reaching other VLANs.