Multicast support for internet protocol version four residual deployment via encapsulation or translation

1. An Internet Protocol (IP) version four (IPv4) Residual Deployment via IP version six (IPv6) (4rd) customer edge (CE) router comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with an IPv6 network; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to:

receive multicast packets from a multicast source via the IPv6 network;

transmit the multicast packets to a host;

transmit a multicast membership report message to a 4rd border relay (BR) via the IPv6 network, wherein the multicast membership report message is transmitted to the BR on behalf of the host, and wherein the multicast membership report message is transmitted via anycast;

receive a unicast address of the BR in response to the multicast membership report message, wherein the multicast membership report message is associated with a multicast group; and

transmit a plurality of subsequent multicast membership report messages associated with the multicast group on behalf of the host,

wherein all the subsequent multicast membership report messages are transmitted to the BR using the BR's unicast address.

2. The 4rd CE of claim 1 , further comprising an internet group management protocol (IGMP) proxy, wherein the IGMP proxy configured to proxy internet group management protocol (IGMP) membership report messages for the host.

3. The 4rd CE of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an IGMP membership report message from the host prior to transmitting the multicast membership report message to the BR; and

create the multicast membership report message by encapsulating the IGMP membership report message in an IPv6 packet.

4. The 4rd CE of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an IGMP membership report message from host prior to transmitting the first multicast membership report message to the BR; and

create the multicast membership report message by translating the IGMP membership report message into a multicast listener discovery (MLD) membership report message.

5. An Internet Protocol (IP) version four (IPv4) Residual Deployment via IP version six (IPv6) (4rd) border relay (BR) comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with an IPv6 network; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to:

receive multicast packets from a multicast source;

communicate with the multicast source via an IPv4 network; and

transmit the multicast packets to a host via the IPv6 network and a 4rd customer edge (CE),

wherein the processor is further configured to implement a first internet group management protocol (IGMP) router coupled to the IPv6 network,

wherein the first IGMP router is configured to receive an IPv6 packet from the CE via the IPv6 network, and

wherein the IPv6 packet comprises an encapsulated IPv4 IGMP membership report message.

6. The 4rd BR of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a multicast membership report from the CE via the IPv6 network; and

transmit a unicast IP address of the BR to the CE.

7. The 4rd BR of claim 5 , further comprising a second IGMP router coupled to the IPv4 network, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

decapsulate the IPv6 packet; and

transmit the IGMP membership report message toward the multicast source via the second IGMP router.

8. The 4rd BR of claim 5 , further comprising a protocol independent multicast (PIM) router coupled to the IPv4 network, wherein the PIM router is configured to transmit a PIM join message toward the multicast source via the IPv4 network, wherein the IGMP membership report message is associated with a multicast group, and wherein the PIM join message is associated with the multicast group.

9. The 4rd BR of claim 5 , wherein the first IGMP router comprises a first IGMP proxy coupled to the IPv6, wherein the first IGMP proxy is configured to receive the IPv6 packet from the CE via the IPv6 network.

10. A method comprising:

sending, by a host, an internet group management protocol (IGMP) report message to a Residual Deployment via Internet Protocol (IP) version six (IPv6) (4rd) customer edge (CE) router to join an IP version four (IPv4) multicast group;

encapsulating, by the CE, the IGMP report message in an IPv6 message and sending the IPv6 message in anycast to find a topologically closest 4rd Border Relay (BR);

receiving, by the closest BR, the IPv6 message and decapsulating the IPv6 message; and

sending, by the closest BR, an upstream IGMP join message or a protocol independent multicast (PIM) join message to subscribe to a multicast group.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving, by the CE, a unicast address of the closest BR; and

sending, by the CE, all subsequent IGMP join messages for the multicast group to the closest BR's unicast address.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving, by the CE, another join message for a different multicast group; and

encapsulating and sending the join message to a BR in anycast to enable the use of multiple BRs that may-be-are deployed as anchor points for the multicast groups.

13. A method comprising:

receiving internet group management protocol (IGMP) reports at a customer edge (CE) router from a plurality of hosts requesting to join one or more Internet Protocol (IP) version four (IPv4) multicast groups, wherein the CE comprises an internet group management protocol (IGMP) proxy facing an IPv4 local area network (LAN) interface and a multicast listener discovery (MLD) proxy facing an IPv6 wide area network (WAN) interface;

synthesizing, by the CE, at least one IPv6 multicast group address corresponding to the IPv4 multicast groups; and

sending, by the MLD proxy, an aggregated MLD report message, based on the IGMP reports, upstream to join the multicast group.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving, by the closest BR, the MLD report message on an IPv6 wide area network (WAN) interface of the BR; and

transmitting, by the BR, a multicast join message on an upstream interface connected to an IPv4 network in IGMP or protocol independent multicast (PIM).