Label Switched Multicast – Packet Walk
This post is going to follow a multicast packet as it moves through a sample MPLS network using Label Switched Multicast (LSM). I’ll show how the packet moves through the network by looking at the forwarding tables on different routers and also by doing some packet captures.
This post is part of a series I’m writing on LSM and if you’re not already familiar with LSM, I recommend you go back and read the previous posts.
After reading this post you will be able to precisely describe how LSM forwarding works in the data plane and will be able to do some basic troubleshooting.
Let’s get into the lab!
The Topology
I’m using the same sample network as the previous posts with three CEs all in the same VRF, three PEs and just a single P router. Each of the CEs and PEs is multicast enabled.

The scenario I’m going to be running here is CE1 sending an ICMP echo to the group 239.23.23.23. The receivers in this group are CE2 and CE3.
Between CE1 and PE1
I’m going to just gloss over the traffic exchanged between CE1 and PE1 since nothing changes here Continue reading