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Configuring MLD (available only on the
S5500-EI)
Overview
An IPv6 router uses the Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) protocol to discover the presence of multicast
listeners on the directly attached subnets. Multicast listeners are nodes that want to receive IPv6 multicast
packets.
Through MLD, the router can determine whether any IPv6 multicast listeners exist on the directly
connected subnets, put corresponding records in the database, and maintain timers related to IPv6
multicast addresses.
Routers running MLD use an IPv6 unicast link-local address as the source address to send MLD messages.
MLD messages are Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6 (ICMPv6) messages. All MLD messages
are confined to the local subnet, with a hop count of 1.
The term "router" in this document refers to both routers and Layer 3 switches.
The term "interface" in this chapter collectively refers to Layer 3 interfaces, including VLAN interfaces
and Layer 3 Ethernet interfaces. You can set an Ethernet port as a Layer 3 interface by using the port
link-mode route command (see Layer 2—LAN Switching Configuration Guide).
MLD versions
• MLDv1 (defined in RFC 2710), which is derived from IGMPv2.
• MLDv2 (defined in RFC 3810), which is derived from IGMPv3.
All MLD versions support the Any-Source Multicast (ASM) model. In addition, MLDv2 can directly
implement the Source-Specific Multicast (SSM) model, but MLDv1 must work with the MLD SSM mapping
function to implement SSM service.
For more information about the ASM and SSM models, see "Multicast overview."
How MLDv1 works
MLDv1 implements IPv6 multicast listener management based on the query/response mechanism.
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