The Cisco multicast Designated switch (DR) must be configured to set the shortest-path tree (SPT) threshold to infinity to minimalize source-group (S, G) state within the multicast topology where Any Source Multicast (ASM) is deployed.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-221063 | CISC-RT-000890 | SV-221063r945856_rule | CCI-002385 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| ASM can have many sources for the same groups (many-to-many). For many receivers, the path via the RP may not be ideal compared with the shortest path from the source to the receiver. By default, the last-hop switch will initiate a switch from the shared tree to a source-specific SPT to obtain lower latencies. This is accomplished by the last-hop switch sending an (S, G) Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) Join toward S (the source). When the last-hop switch begins to receive traffic for the group from the source via the SPT, it will send a PIM Prune message to the RP for the (S, G). The RP will then send a Prune message toward the source. The SPT switchover becomes a scaling issue for large multicast topologies that have many receivers and many sources for many groups because (S, G) entries require more memory than (*, G). Hence, it is imperative to minimize the amount of (S, G) state to be maintained by increasing the threshold that determines when the SPT switchover occurs. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Cisco IOS XE Switch RTR Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-20 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-221063r945856_chk)
Review the DR configuration to verify that the SPT switchover threshold is increased (default is "0") or set to infinity (never switch over).
ip pim rp-address 10.2.2.2
ip pim spt-threshold infinity
If the DR is not configured to increase the SPT threshold or set to infinity to minimalize (S, G) state, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-22767r408984_fix)
Configure the DR to increase the SPT threshold or set it to infinity to minimalize (S, G) state within the multicast topology where ASM is deployed.
SW2(config)#ip pim spt-threshold infinity