Multicast method and multicast routing method

An egress network node, comprising:

• a classifying module, a receiving module, a converting module and a sending module;
• wherein
• the classifying module classifies a collection of multicast data packets forwarded in the same mode into a Multicast Forwarding Equivalence Class, MFEC, and configure a mapping relation between the multicast data packets of the same MFEC and the MFEC, wherein multicast data packets passing through the same multicast distribution tree or distribution sub-tree are classified into the MFEC, and multicast data packets from more than one specific multicast stream are classified into the MFEC;
• the receiving module outputs a join packet received to the converting module and output the multicast data packets received to the sending module;
• the converting module maps the join packet received into a join packet based on the MFEC according to the mapping relation obtained from the classifying module, establish forwarding instruction information identified by the MFEC, and output the join packet mapped and the forwarding instruction information to the sending module;
• and
• the sending module sends the join packet based on the MFEC to an upstream network node, and send the multicast data packets received to a downstream network node according to the forwarding instruction information;
• wherein the forwarding of the multicast data packets in the same mode comprises performing the same forwarding process on the multicast data packets passing through the same multicast distribution tree or the distribution sub-tree;
• wherein the converting module is further configured to map the join packets for joining different multicast groups into packets based on the MFEC according to the mapping relation, create multicast forwarding instruction information identified by the MFEC, and add the outgoing-interface to the multicast forwarding instruction information.

An ingress network node, comprising:

• a classifying module, a receiving module, a converting module and a sending module;
• wherein
• the classifying module classifies a collection of multicast data packets forwarded in the same mode into a Multicast Forwarding Equivalence Class, MFEC, and configure a mapping relation between the multicast data packets of the same MFEC and the MFEC, wherein multicast data packets passing through the same multicast distribution tree or distribution sub-tree are classified into the MFEC, and multicast data packets from more than one specific multicast stream are classified into the MFEC;
• the receiving module outputs a join packet received to the converting module and output the multicast data packets received to the sending module;
• the converting module establishes forwarding instruction information identified by the MFEC according to the join packet received and the mapping relation obtained from the classifying module, and output the forwarding instruction information to the sending module;
• and
• the sending module sends the multicast data packets received to a downstream network node according to the forwarding instruction information;
• wherein the forwarding of the multicast data packets in the same mode comprises performing the same forwarding process on the multicast data packets passing through the same multicast distribution tree or the distribution sub-tree;
• wherein the converting module further adds an outgoing-interface in the forwarding instruction information.