Dell PowerConnect 8100 User's Configuration Guide - Page 83

IGMP Snooping Querier When Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) and IGMP are enabled in a network with IP multicast routing, the IP multicast router acts as the IGMP querier. However, if it is desirable to keep the multicast network Layer 2 switched only, the IGMP Snooping Querier can perform the query functions of a Layer 3 multicast router. MLD Snooping In IPv4, Layer 2 switches can use IGMP Snooping to limit the flooding of multicast traffic by dynamically configuring Layer 2 interfaces so that multicast traffic is forwarded to only those interfaces associated with IP multicast address. In IPv6, MLD snooping performs a similar function. With MLD snooping, IPv6 multicast data is selectively forwarded to a list of ports intended to receive the data (instead of being flooded to all of the ports in a VLAN). This list is constructed by snooping IPv6 multicast control packets. Multicast VLAN Registration The Multicast VLAN Registration (MVR) protocol, like IGMP Snooping, allows a Layer 2 switch to listen to IGMP frames and forward the multicast traffic only to the receivers that request it. Unlike IGMP Snooping, MVR allows the switch to listen across different VLANs. MVR uses a dedicated VLAN, which is called the multicast VLAN, to forward multicast traffic over the Layer 2 network to the various VLANs that have multicast receivers as members. Switch Features 83