RFC 3590 (rfc3590) - Page 1 of 6

Source Address Selection for the Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Protocol

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Network Working Group                                        B. Haberman
Request for Comments: 3590                              Caspian Networks
Updates: 2710                                             September 2003
Category: Standards Track


                    Source Address Selection for the
              Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Protocol

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   It has come to light that there is an issue with the selection of a
   suitable IPv6 source address for Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD)
   messages when a node is performing stateless address
   autoconfiguration.  This document is intended to clarify the rules on
   selecting an IPv6 address to use for MLD messages.

1.  Introduction

   The original specification of the Multicast Listener Discovery
   Protocol (MLD) for IPv6 [RFC 2710] mandates the use of a link-local
   IPv6 source address for the transmission of MLD messages.  In
   addition, MLD also requires nodes to send MLD Report messages when
   joining any IPv6 multicast group (except the All-Nodes address and
   addresses of scope less than 2).

   These MLD requirements conflict with the use of IPv6 multicast within
   the Neighbor Discovery Protocol [RFC 2461].  For stateless
   autoconfiguration, as defined in [RFC 2462], a node is required to
   join several IPv6 multicast groups in order to perform Duplicate
   Address Detection prior to its use.  Since the only address the node
   has is tentative, and cannot be used for communication, it does not
   have a suitable address to utilize as a source address.






Haberman                    Standards Track
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