Cisco Cisco IOS Software Release 12.4(11)T

© 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effective with Cisco IOS 12.4(11)T, the Multicast Rekeying feature information (originally published as 
Cisco IOS Release 12.4(6)T [titled 

Secure Multicast

]) has been integrated into this document.

Today’s networked applications, such as voice and video, are accelerating the need for instantaneous, 
branch-interconnected, and Quality of Service- (QoS-) enabled WANs. The distributed nature of these 
applications results in increased demands for scale. At the same time, enterprise WAN technologies 
force businesses to trade off between QoS-enabled branch interconnectivity and transport security. As 
network security risks increase and regulatory compliance becomes essential, Cisco Group Encrypted 
Transport VPN (GET VPN) eliminates the need to compromise between network intelligence and data 
privacy.

GET VPN eliminates the need for tunnels. By removing the need for point-to-point tunnels, meshed 
networks are able to scale higher while maintaining network-intelligence features that are critical to 
voice and video quality, such as QoS, routing, and multicast. GET VPN offers a new standards-based IP 
security (IPsec) security model that is based on the concept of “trusted” group members. Trusted 
member routers use a common security methodology that is independent of any point-to-point IPsec 
tunnel relationship.

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

Cisco Group Encrypted Transport VPN provides the following benefits:

Provides data security and transport authentication, helping to meet security compliance and 
internal regulation by encrypting all WAN traffic

Enables high-scale network meshes and eliminates complex peer-to-peer key management with 
group encryption keys

For Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks, maintains network intelligence (such as 
full-mesh connectivity, natural routing path, and QoS]