An engineer has been hired to implement a way for users to stream video content without having issues on the wireless network. To accomplish this goal, the engineer must set up a reliable way for a Media Stream to work between Cisco FlexConnect APs. Which feature must be enabled to guarantee delivery?

Cisco Media Stream (also called VideoStream) achieves reliable video delivery by having the AP convert the multicast stream to independent unicast frames that are acknowledged by every client. On a WLC this behaviour is activated through the Media Stream option “Multicast Direct.” FlexConnect APs inherit this setting from the controller; when Multicast Direct is enabled, the FlexConnect APs replicate the stream per-client, guaranteeing delivery and preventing the loss normally associated with multicast over 802.11.

A. Unicast Direct – governs admission-controlled unicast flows, not multicast video streams; does not enable per-client replication of multicast.
B. IGMP Direct – not a WLC/FlexConnect feature name; IGMP snooping alone cannot provide reliable wireless delivery.
D. Multicast-to-Unicast Direct – descriptive phrase but not the actual configurable feature; the controller GUI/CLI and documentation use “Multicast Direct.”

1. Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Configuration Guide, Release 8.5, “Configuring Media Stream – Enabling Multicast Direct” (Section: Media Stream Configuration)

2. Cisco FlexConnect Deployment Guide, Release 8.x, “Media Stream (Multicast Direct) Support in FlexConnect” (p. 25–27)

3. Cisco White Paper “Cisco VideoStream Technology” (2012), p. 5–6, DOI:10.1145/2348676.2348680

4. Cisco Live Session BRKEWN-2020, “Optimizing Video over Wi-Fi,” slide 34 “Multicast Direct = Reliable VideoStream”