Determining Multicast Root Nodes in a Telecommunications Network

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

• detecting a change in a multiple-switch configuration in a data communications network comprising a plurality of packet data switches configured as roots of multicast trees;
• in response to detecting that the multiple-switch configuration has changed:
• retrieving a first value, a second value and a third value representing limits on a number of multicast trees supported in the network and prioritization of the switches;
• determining a type of the multiple-switch configuration change;
• in response to determining that the type indicates that a first switch was added to the multiple-switch configuration, determining, using at least the first, second and third values, whether to configure the first switch as a first root in the multiple-switch configuration.

A packet data switch comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a traffic processing unit coupled to the one or more processors and configured to perform detecting that a multiple-switch configuration in a network has changed;
• a selector unit coupled to the traffic processing unit and to the one or more processors and configured to perform:
• detecting a change in a multiple-switch configuration in a data communications network comprising a plurality of packet data switches configured as roots of multicast trees;
• in response to detecting that the multiple-switch configuration has changed:
• retrieving a first value, a second value and a third value representing limits on a number of multicast trees supported in the network and prioritization of the switches;
• determining a type of the multiple-switch configuration change;
• in response to determining that the type indicates that a first switch was added to the multiple-switch configuration, determining, using at least the first, second and third values, whether to configure the first switch as a first root in the multiple-switch configuration;
• wherein the first value indicates a maximum quantity of multi-destination trees that the network supports;
• wherein the second value indicates a minimum quantity of the multi-destination trees that the network supports;
• wherein the third value indicates a minimum priority value used to determine whether a particular node becomes a particular root and is not lesser than an edge default priority value and not greater than a core default priority value.