Do I need to enale PIM

[Jeffrey Krawczyk]

Hi all;

We have a new set of procurve 5412zl switches that we are installing in our new facility and I'm wondering if we need to use PIM. This is used in our old building but I don't knwo what this is used for.

I come from the Cisco world and PIM is new to me.

Please advise

[Jeff Carrell]

PIM - protocol independent multicast

2 "types" dense mode and sparse mode

if you are running a multicast application, like streaming video or "ghost" imaging computers, PIM is probably required...

on a procurve switch you would see commands like:

(global area commands)

ip multicast-routing
router pim


(vlan area commands)
ip pim-dense -or- ip pim-sparse
ip igmp

and you must have routing and a routing protocol enabled:

ip routing
router ospf -or- router rip


!!!!! an very important note, in order to enable & configure multicast routing on a 5400 (and 3500) switch, you must purchase a "premium license" add-on which after enabled allows OSPF, VRRP, Multicast routing, and QinQ to operate (if enabled)...


hth...jeff