Node Protection for a Software Defined Replicator

According to certain embodiments, a system comprises one or more processors and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause one or more components of the system to perform operations. The operations comprise selecting a primary node to replicate multicast traffic and forward the multicast traffic to a plurality of receivers, selecting one or more secondary nodes to provide node-level redundancy for the primary node, and providing the one or more secondary nodes with synchronization information that enables the one or more secondary nodes to replicate the multicast traffic and forward the multicast traffic to the plurality of receivers in response to the primary node becoming unavailable. Selecting the primary node is based in software.