Reserch on the Application Layer Multicast of Computer Network

Traditional multicasting is implemented in the network layer of TCP/IP suites,but isn't a available because it need extend the forwarding algorithm of data packet in the network layer protocol.In order to accelerate the development and solve the existing problems of multicast,the application-level multicast has been proposed recently.It shifts the multicast ablity from routers to the end hosts,therefore routers need not maintain the routing table and does not modify the equipment of the current network,the multicast function is easily fulfilled.The article introduces the definition and means of application layer multicast,also presents the current proposed application layer protocols,and discuses the issues of the evaluation of functionality.