RFC 2236 (rfc2236) - Page 1 of 24

Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 2

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Network Working Group                                            W. Fenner
Request for Comments: 2236                                      Xerox PARC
Updates: 1112                                                November 1997
Category: Standards Track


             Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 2


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 (1997).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This memo documents IGMPv2, used by IP hosts to report their
   multicast group memberships to routers.  It updates STD 5, RFC 1112.

   IGMPv2 allows group membership termination to be quickly reported to
   the routing protocol, which is important for high-bandwidth multicast
   groups and/or subnets with highly volatile group membership.

   This document is a product of the Inter-Domain Multicast Routing
   working group within the Internet Engineering Task Force.  Comments
   are solicited and should be addressed to the working group's mailing
   list at  and/or the author(s).

1.  Definitions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC 2119].

2.  Introduction

   The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is used by IP hosts to
   report their multicast group memberships to any immediately-
   neighboring multicast routers.  This memo describes only the use of
   IGMP between hosts and routers to determine group membership.
   Routers that are members of multicast groups are expected to behave



Fenner                      Standards Track
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