Message received

Action after the timer

 

Timer

Description

before the timer

 

expires

 

 

 

expires

 

 

 

 

 

 

When a port dynamically joins

 

 

 

 

an IPv6 multicast group, the

 

The switch removes this

 

Dynamic member

switch starts or resets an aging

MLD membership report.

port from the MLD

 

port aging timer

timer for the port. When the

snooping forwarding

 

 

 

 

timer expires, the dynamic

 

table.

 

 

member port ages out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE:

In MLD snooping, only dynamic ports age out.

How MLD snooping works

The ports in this section are dynamic ports.

MLD messages include general query, MLD report, and done message. An MLD snooping-enabled switch performs differently depending on the MLD message.

General query

The MLD querier periodically sends MLD general queries to all hosts and routers on the local subnet to check whether any active IPv6 multicast group members exist on the subnet. The destination IPv6 address of MLD general queries is FF02::1.

After receiving an MLD general query, the switch forwards the query to all ports in the VLAN except the receiving port. The switch also performs one of the following actions:

If the receiving port is a dynamic router port in the router port list, the switch restarts the aging timer for the router port.

If the receiving port is not in the router port list, the switch adds the port as a dynamic router port to the router port list and starts an aging timer for the port.

MLD report

A host sends an MLD report to the MLD querier for the following purposes:

Responds to queries if the host is an IPv6 multicast group member.

Applies for an IPv6 multicast group membership.

After receiving an MLD report, the switch forwards it through all the router ports in the VLAN and resolves the address of the reported IPv6 multicast group. The switch also performs one of the following actions:

If no forwarding entry matches the IPv6 group address, the switch creates a forwarding entry for the group, adds the receiving port as a dynamic member port to the forwarding entry, and starts an aging timer for the port.

If a forwarding entry matches the IPv6 group address, but the receiving port is not in the forwarding entry for the group, the switch adds the port as a dynamic member port to the forwarding entry, and starts an aging timer for the port.

If a forwarding entry matches the IPv6 group address and the receiving port is in the forwarding entry for the group, the switch resets an aging timer for the port.

A switch does not forward an MLD report through a non-router port. If the switch forwards a report through a member port, the MLD report suppression mechanism causes all attached hosts that monitor

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