Chapter 20. Multicast Listener Discovery - IBM RackSwitch G8000 Application Manual

Chapter 20. Multicast Listener Discovery

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011
Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) is an IPv6 protocol that a host uses to request
multicast data for a multicast group. An IPv6 router uses MLD to discover the
presence of multicast listeners (nodes that want to receive multicast packets) on its
directly attached links, and to discover specifically the multicast addresses that are
of interest to those neighboring nodes.
MLD version 1 is derived from Internet Group Management Protocol version 2
(IGMPv2) and MLDv2 is derived from IGMPv3. MLD uses ICMPv6 (IP Protocol 58)
message types. See RFC 2710 and RFC 3810 for details.
MLDv2 protocol, when compared to MLDv1, adds support for source filtering—the
ability for a node to report interest in listening to packets only from specific source
addresses, or from all but specific source addresses, sent to a particular multicast
address. MLDv2 is interoperable with MLDv1. See RFC 3569 for details on
Source-Specific Multicast (SSM).
The following topics are discussed in this chapter:
• "MLD Terms" on page 240
• "How MLD Works" on page 241
• "MLD Capacity and Default Values" on page 243
• "Configuring MLD" on page 244
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