| CPC H04L 45/16 (2013.01) [H04L 45/02 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A method comprising:
transmitting, by a head node connected to a source device, a multicast data flow from the source device to receiving devices connected to tail nodes using Default Multicast Distribution Tree (MDT);
determining that requirements have been met to begin transmitting the multicast data flow using Data MDT;
receiving, by the head node and from each tail node, a message indicating a maximum number of Data MDT tunnels each tail node is capable of supporting:
based at least in part on the receiving, determining whether all the tail nodes are able to receive the multicast data flow using Data MDT;
in response to determining that all the tail nodes are able to receive the multicast data flow using Data MDT, switch to transmitting the multicast data flow to the tail nodes using Data MDT; or
in response to determining that at least one of the tail nodes is unable to receive the multicast data flow using the Data MDT, continue transmitting the multicast data flow using Default MDT.
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