H3C Technologies H3C S3600 Series Switches - Manual (Page 376)

1-2
Figure 1-1 Information transmission in the unicast mode
Assume that Hosts B, D and E need this information. The source server establishes transmission
channels for the devices of these users respectively. As the transmitted traffic over the network is in
direct proportion to the number of users that receive this information, when a large number of users
need the same information, the server must send many packets of information with the same content to
the users. While suitable for networks with small numbers of users, or where information transmitted to
users is significantly different, in other cases this is an inefficient use of the network, and when there is
limited bandwidth, bottlenecks can develop in information transmission. In general, unicast is not good
for the transmission of a great deal of the same information to multiple recipients.
Information Transmission in the Broadcast Mode
When you broadcast traffic, the system transmits information to all users on a network. Any user on the
network can receive the information, no matter if the information is needed or not. Figure 1-2 shows
information transmission in broadcast mode.