Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is a TCP/IP protocol that is used to manage IP multicast sessions. It uses special IGMP messages to learn the layout of the multicast groups
and which hosts belong to which groups. Additionally, the individual hosts in an IP network use IGMP messages to join and leave a multicast group. IGMP messages help keep track of group
membership and active multicast streams. IGMP is in its second version, as specified in RFC 2236, with a third version (RFC 3376), currently proposed.