10-2 MLD Snooping
Curiously enough, a network node that acts as a source of IPv6 multicast traffic is only an
indirect participant in MLD snooping - it just provides multicast traffic, and MLD doesn’t
interact with it. (Note, however, that in an application like desktop conferencing a network
node may act as both a source and an MLD host; but MLD interacts with that node only in its
role as an MLD host.)
A source node creates multicast traffic by sending packets to a multicast address. In IPv6,
addresses with the first eight bits set (that is, “FF” as the first two characters of the address) are
multicast addresses, and any node that listens to such an address will receive the traffic sent to
that address. Application software running on the source and destination systems cooperates
to determine what multicast address to use. (Note that this is a function of the application
software, not of MLD.)
When MLD snooping is enabled on a VLAN, the switch acts to minimize unnecessary multicast
traffic. If the switch receives multicast traffic destined for a given multicast address, it forwards
that traffic only to ports on the VLAN that have MLD hosts for that address. It drops that traffic
for ports on the VLAN that have no MLD hosts.
Figure 10-2: MLD Snooping enabled
10-2.1 Basic Configuration
The section let you configure the MLD Snooping basic configuration and the parameters.
Web Interface
To configure the MLD Snooping Configuration in the web interface:
1. Click Multicast, MLD Snooping, and Basic Configuration.
2. Select “on” to enable Snooping globally and configure the parameters.
3. Select the port to join Router Port and Fast Leave.
4. Scroll to the Throttling mode dropdown and select unlimited or 1 to 10.
5. Click the Save button to save the settings.
6. To cancel the settings, click the Reset button to revert to previously saved values.
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