Cisco Cisco IOS Software Release 12.4(6)T

Copyright © 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Secure Multicast is a set of features that are necessary to secure IP multicast group traffic that originates 
on or flows through a Cisco IOS device.  Secure Multicast combines the keying protocol Group Domain 
of Interpretation (GDOI) with IP security (IPsec) encryption to provide users with an efficient method 
to secure IP multicast group traffic. Secure Multicast enables the router to apply encryption to 
nontunneled (that is, “native”) IP multicast packets and eliminates the requirement to configure tunnels 
to protect multicast traffic.  

Secure Multicast provides the following benefits:

Protection of multicast traffic without any form of additional encapsulation.

Scalability: one-to-many and many-to-many relationships. 

Manageability: easier configuration and enhanced manageability. 

Native IPsec encapsulation for IP multicast traffic.

Centralized key and policies distribution mechanism through GDOI key server.

Simplified troubleshooting.

Extensible standard-based framework is used.

Your Cisco IOS software release may not support all of the features documented in this module. To reach 
links to specific feature documentation in this module and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is 
supported, use the 

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco IOS software image 
support. Access Cisco Feature Navigator at 

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