Operation Manual – Multicast Protocol 
Quidway S5600 Series Ethernet Switches-Release 1510  Chapter 2  IGMP Snooping Configuration
 
Huawei Technologies Proprietary 
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Chapter 2  IGMP Snooping Configuration 
2.1  Overview 
2.1.1  IGMP Snooping Fundamentals  
Internet group management protocol snooping (IGMP Snooping) is a multicast control 
mechanism running on Layer 2 switch. It is used to manage and control multicast 
groups. 
When the IGMP messages transferred from the hosts to the router pass through the 
Layer 2 switch, the switch uses IGMP Snooping to analyze and process the IGMP 
messages, as shown in 
Table 2-1. 
Table 2-1 IGMP message processing on the switch 
Received 
message type 
Sender   Receiver  Switch processing  
IGMP host report 
message  
Host Switch  
Add the host to the 
corresponding multicast group.
IGMP leave 
message  
Host Switch  
Remove the host from the 
multicast group. 
 
By listening to IGMP messages, the switch establishes and maintains MAC multicast 
address tables at data link layer, and uses the tables to forward the multicast packets 
delivered from the router. 
As shown in 
Figure 2-1, multicast packets are broadcasted at Layer 2 when IGMP 
Snooping is disabled and multicasted (not broadcasted) at Layer 2 when IGMP 
Snooping is enabled.