FAST MULTICAST CONVERGENCE FOR TIME SYNCHRONIZATION IN A NETWORK

A system for providing fast multicast convergence for Precision Time Protocol (PTP) at a switch is provided. During operation, the system can receive a multicast control message based on a multicast protocol used for PTP from a respective neighbor switch. The multicast control message can indicate neighbor information associated with the multicast protocol. The system can then determine a role associated with the PTP for a remote switch from the control message. Upon receiving a register message for a multicast group associated with the PTP, the system can determine whether a multicast path from the switch to a PTP source includes a device with a role of a boundary clock (BC) of PTP. If the multicast path includes a device with a role of a BC, the system can send a gratuitous register-stop message for the multicast group toward the PTP source in absence of a native path.