If a Dante network has 90Mbps of multicast traffic, what would be the appropriate first troubleshooting step?

In a Dante network experiencing 90Mbps of multicast traffic, the appropriate first step in troubleshooting is to enable IGMP Snooping. IGMP Snooping is a technique used in network switches to manage multicast traffic more efficiently. When IGMP Snooping is turned on, the switch monitors IGMP communication between hosts and their multicast groups. This allows the switch to learn which devices want to receive multicast traffic and to send the data only to those devices instead of flooding it to all ports.

This is particularly important in a Dante network because multicast traffic can easily overwhelm the available bandwidth if not managed properly. By utilizing IGMP Snooping, the network becomes more efficient, as it reduces unnecessary multicast traffic being sent out to all devices that are not interested in that traffic. This helps in diagnosing issues related to bandwidth consumption and ensures that multicast streams are optimized for the devices that require them.

Other options, such as increasing bandwidth allocation or using more unicast flows, may address symptoms rather than the root cause of the traffic issue. Decreasing the number of devices could lead to suboptimal network usage and might not specifically target the problem related to multicast traffic management. Thus, turning on IGMP Snooping is the most effective and immediate action to troubleshoot the excessive multicast traffic