Multicast & QoS for 2110 Networks: The Short Guide

Moving uncompressed video over IP is only possible with multicast and proper QoS. In 2025, these are well understood, but new engineers still face a learning curve. This guide outlines the essentials.

Why Multicast?

Uncompressed 4K video can exceed 12 Gbps. Sending that as unicast to multiple receivers would flood the network. Multicast allows a sender to transmit once while switches replicate traffic only where needed. It’s the only practical way to scale large video plants.

QoS Basics

Quality of Service ensures that time-sensitive media traffic gets priority over less critical data. Without it, congestion can cause packet loss and visible glitches.

For 2110, common practices include:
- Marking video, audio, and ancillary streams with DSCP values.
- Prioritizing PTP messages above everything else.
- Ensuring control traffic is protected but does not interfere with essences.

Design Principles

• Separation: Keep media, control, and management traffic logically distinct.
• Capacity planning: Don’t oversubscribe links; leave headroom.
• Testing: Simulate load to confirm QoS policies hold up.
• Documentation: Clearly record multicast addresses and QoS settings.

What to Avoid

• Using default switch configs.
• Allowing PTP to share queues with bulk data.
• Overcomplicating multicast ranges.

Multicast and QoS are not optional skills. They are the engineering fundamentals that make 2110 deployments reliable. Once mastered, they become routine — but cutting corners guarantees headaches.