Diagnosing Multicast Exceptions in Blade v4.3.x

Diagnosing Multicast Exceptions in Blade v4.3.x

Blade Version 4.3.x performs a Multicast Exception Check and will engage an alarm in Navigator that appears in the Alarm Dock when it detects that two sources are using the same multicast IP address.

When you see this alert in the Alarm Dock, you will find a message printed to the log periodically stating which streams are at issue. It looks like this:
  1. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.258: Logger  : MCAST Check: 17 Exceptions Detected
  2. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.258: Logger  : Exception 1: Signal: 4.0.0.9 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.153:0 (0)) as signal 4.0.0.5 (BL004S05)
  3. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.259: Logger  : Exception 2: Signal: 4.0.0.11 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.154:0 (0)) as signal 4.0.0.6 (BL004S06)
  4. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.260: Logger  : Exception 3: Signal: 4.0.0.13 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.155:0 (0)) as signal 4.0.0.7 (BL004S07)
  5. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.261: Logger  : Exception 4: Signal: 4.0.0.15 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.156:0 (0)) as signal 4.0.0.8 (BL004S08)
  6. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.261: Logger  : Exception 5: Signal: 5.0.0.9 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.201:0 (0)) as signal 5.0.0.5 (BL005S05)
  7. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.262: Logger  : Exception 6: Signal: 5.0.0.11 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.202:0 (0)) as signal 5.0.0.6 (BL005S06)
  8. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.262: Logger  : Exception 7: Signal: 5.0.0.13 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.203:0 (0)) as signal 5.0.0.7 (BL005S07)
  9. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.262: Logger  : Exception 8: Signal: 5.0.0.15 (Unused) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.204:0 (0)) as signal 5.0.0.8 (BL005S08)
  10. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.264: Logger  : Exception 9: Signal: 6.0.0.9 (BL006S09) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.249:0 (0)) as signal 6.0.0.5 (BL006S05)
  11. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.264: Logger  : Exception 10: Signal: 6.0.0.11 (BL006S11) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.250:0 (0)) as signal 6.0.0.6 (BL006S06)
  12. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.264: Logger  : Exception 11: Signal: 6.0.0.13 (BL006S13) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.251:0 (0)) as signal 6.0.0.7 (BL006S07)
  13. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.265: Logger  : Exception 12: Signal: 6.0.0.15 (BL006S15) using same mcast stream (239.192.192.252:0 (0)) as signal 6.0.0.8 (BL006S08)
  14. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.265: Logger  : Exception 13: Signal: 30.0.8.1 (KLAA I33) using same mcast stream (239.192.197.116:0 (0)) as signal 30.0.0.1 (ISDN 33)
  15. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.266: Logger  : Exception 14: Signal: 71.0.0.9 (BL071S09) using same mcast stream (239.192.202.73:0 (0)) as signal 71.0.0.5 (BL071S05)
  16. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.267: Logger  : Exception 15: Signal: 71.0.0.11 (BL071S11) using same mcast stream (239.192.202.74:0 (0)) as signal 71.0.0.6 (BL071S06)
  17. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.267: Logger  : Exception 16: Signal: 71.0.0.13 (TV-10) using same mcast stream (239.192.202.75:0 (0)) as signal 71.0.0.7 (BL071S07)
  18. 004 "Blade04 ":08/26/2025 13:11:54.268: Logger  : Exception 17: Signal: 71.0.0.15 (TV-12) using same mcast stream (239.192.202.76:0 (0)) as signal signal 71.0.0.8 (BL071S08)
If two sources are both assigned the same multicast address, both sources will be silent because of the conflict. If there is a conflict, you'll know because both of those sources will be silent. To resolve the conflict, make sure all blades are on the same version (including drivers) and do a multicast reallocation.


Alert
Sometimes there is not a conflict! If the second signal of the Exception is the base address of an alias (which will be noted in Navigator on the Sources tab for the blade; click on the source and look in the Details pane) and the first signal of the exception is the alias, then it's not an overlap at all.

Prior to 2022, Blades could use the same group number within the Signal ID (the dotted notation shown in the error message) for the alias as the base source. After 2022, a specific group number was assigned to aliases, which the multicast checker is looking for when it scans for errors. So an alias created in 2019 might have a signal ID of 2.0.0.15 and a base of 2.0.0.1; an alias created today might be signal ID 2..0.125.1 and a base of 2.0.0.1. The error checker, since it doesn't see the 125 and doesn't think it's an alias on the older signal, will throw the error.

If you have aliases in your system that have been there for a very long time and you update to Blade version 4.3.x and above, you will see these errors in your log even though there is no overlap. Fix this by deleting and re-creating the offending alias so the alias gets a new signal ID with the new group number.

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