Administrator Guide

Join a Multicast Group
There are two ways that a host may join a multicast group: it may respond to a general query from its querier or it may send an
unsolicited report to its querier.
• Responding to an IGMP Query
– One router on a subnet is elected as the querier. The querier periodically multicasts (to all-multicast-systems address
224.0.0.1) a general query to all hosts on the subnet.
– A host that wants to join a multicast group responds with an IGMP membership report that contains the multicast address of
the group it wants to join (the packet is addressed to the same group). If multiple hosts want to join the same multicast
group, only the report from the rst host to respond reaches the querier, and the remaining hosts suppress their responses
(for how the delay timer mechanism works, refer to IGMP Snooping).
– The querier receives the report for a group and adds the group to the list of multicast groups associated with its outgoing
port to the subnet. Multicast trac for the group is then forwarded to that subnet.
• Sending an Unsolicited IGMP Report
– A host does not have to wait for a general query to join a group. It may send an unsolicited IGMP membership report, also
called an IGMP Join message, to the querier.
Leave a Multicast Group
The following describes how a host can leave a multicast group.
• A host sends a membership report of type 0x17 (IGMP Leave message) to the all routers multicast address 224.0.0.2 when it no
longer cares about multicast trac for a particular group.
• The querier sends a Group-Specic Query to determine whether there are any remaining hosts in the group. There must be at
least one receiver in a group on a subnet for a router to forward multicast trac for that group to the subnet.
• Any remaining hosts respond to the query according to the delay timer mechanism (refer to IGMP Snooping). If no hosts
respond (because there are none remaining in the group), the querier waits a specied period and sends another query. If it still
receives no response, the querier removes the group from the list associated with forwarding port and stops forwarding trac
for that group to the subnet.
IGMP Version 3
Conceptually, IGMP version 3 behaves the same as version 2. However, there are dierences.
• Version 3 adds the ability to lter by multicast source, which helps multicast routing protocols avoid forwarding trac to subnets
where there are no interested receivers.
• To enable ltering, routers must keep track of more state information, that is, the list of sources that must be ltered. An
additional query type, the Group-and-Source-Specic Query, keeps track of state changes, while the Group-Specic and General
queries still refresh the existing state.
• Reporting is more ecient and robust: hosts do not suppress query responses (non-suppression helps track state and enables
the immediate-leave and IGMP snooping features), state-change reports are retransmitted to insure delivery, and a single
membership report bundles multiple statements from a single host, rather than sending an individual packet for each statement.
The version 3 packet structure is dierent from version 2 to accommodate these protocol enhancements. Queries are still sent to
the all-systems address 224.0.0.1, as shown in the following illustration, but reports are sent to the all IGMP version 3-capable
multicast routers address 244.0.0.22, as shown in the second illustration.
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Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)