Chapter 7
IGMP
Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is used by IP Multicast routers to learn about the existence of host group members on their directly attached subnet (see RFC 2236). The IP Multicast routers get this information by broadcasting IGMP Membership Queries and listening for IP hosts reporting their host group memberships. This process is used to set up a client/server relationship between an IP Multicast source that provides the data streams and the clients that want to receive the data.
The EX2500 switch can perform IGMP Snooping, and connect to static multicast routers (Mrouters).
The following topics are discussed in this chapter:
IGMP Snooping on page 71
FastLeave on page 72
IGMPv3 Snooping on page 73
IGMP Snooping Configuration Example on page 73
Static Multicast Router on page 74
IGMP Snooping
IGMP snooping allows the switch to forward multicast traffic to only those ports that request it. IGMP Snooping prevents multicast traffic from being flooded to all ports. The switch learns which server hosts are interested in receiving multicast traffic, and forwards it only to ports connected to those servers.
IGMP snooping conserves bandwidth. With IGMP Snooping, the switch learns which ports are interested in receiving multicast data, and forwards multicast data to those ports only. In this way, other ports are not burdened with unwanted multicast traffic.
The switch can sense IGMP Membership Reports from attached clients and can act as a proxy to set up a dedicated path between the requesting host and a local IP Multicast router. After the pathway is established, the switch blocks the IP Multicast stream from flowing through any port that does not connect to a host member, thus conserving bandwidth.
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