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IGMP Protocol Overview

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), documented in Appendix I of RFC 1112, allows Internet hosts to participate in multicasting. RFC 1112 describes the basic of multicasting IP traffic, including the format of multicast IP addresses, multicast Ethernet encapsulation, and the concept of a host group.

A host group is the set of hosts interested in traffic for a particular multicast address. Important multicast addresses are documented in the most recent Assigned Numbers RFC, currently RFC 1700. IGMP allows a router to determine which host groups have members on a given network segment.

The exchange of multicast packets between routers is not addressed by IGMP.

Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
IGMP Protocol Overview

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