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Licensing Requirements and Limitations for IGMP

Involved Network Elements

An IPv4 multicast network consists of the following network elements:

  • Multicast source

    A device that sends multicast data to receiver hosts. For example, a video server is a multicast source.

  • IPv4 Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) device

    A device that uses the IPv4 PIM protocol to generate and maintain multicast routing entries and forwards multicast data based on multicast routing entries. On an IPv4 multicast network, all Layer 3 devices must run IPv4 PIM; otherwise, multicast forwarding paths cannot be established.

  • Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) device

    A device that forwards multicast data from one PIM network to another. For example, if multicast data needs to be transmitted between two autonomous systems (ASs), the devices at the border of the ASs must run the MSDP protocol.

  • Multicast VPN device

    Multicast VPN enables multicast data of a private network to be transmitted over a public network. Multicast VPN devices are used on VPN networks. For example, if two sites of a VPN network need to exchange multicast data across a public network, multicast VPN needs to be configured on the PE devices.

  • IGMP querier

    A device that exchanges IGMP messages with receiver hosts to create and maintain group memberships. On a multicast network, Layer 3 devices connected to network segments of receivers must run the IGMP protocol or be configured with static IGMP groups. Otherwise, upstream PIM devices cannot know the multicast groups that users want to join, and therefore cannot establish multicast forwarding paths.

  • IGMP snooping device

    A device that listens to IGMP messages exchanged between upstream Layer 3 multicast devices and receiver hosts to create and maintain Layer 2 multicast forwarding entries, which are used for accurate multicast data forwarding on a Layer 2 network. To prevent broadcasting of multicast packets on a Layer 2 network and conserve network bandwidth, it is recommended that you configure IGMP snooping on Layer 2 devices.

  • Receiver

    A multicast user that receives multicast data. A receiver can be a PC, a set top box, or any device with multicast client installed.

The "IGMP Configuration" chapter is about configuring a Layer 3 device as an IGMP querier.

Licensing Requirements

IGMP is a basic feature of a switch and is not under license control.

Feature Support in V200R019C10

All models of S5700 and S6700 series switches support IGMP.

For details about software mappings, visit Hardware Query Tool and search for the desired product model.

Feature Limitations

  • IGMP-capable switches support IGMP configuration on physical interfaces that have been switched to Layer 3 mode using the undo portswitch command since V200R005. This configuration, however, is not supported on the S5720I-SI, S5720-LI, S5735-L, S5735S-L, S5735S-L-M, S5720S-LI, S5720S-SI, S5720-SI, S5735-S, S5735S-S, S5735-S-I, S5730S-EI, S5730-SI, S6720-LI, S6720S-LI, S6720S-SI, and S6720-SI.
  • Since V200R010, IGMP can be configured on dot1q and QinQ termination sub-interfaces. When configuring IGMP on a dot1q or QinQ termination sub-interface, pay attention to the following points:
    • If IGMPv3 is running between user hosts and an IGMP querier, the group addresses in any-source multicast requests (unspecified source S and specified group G) sent from the user hosts must be out of the source-specific multicast (SSM) group range.
    • If IGMPv3 is running between user hosts and an IGMP querier, the group addresses in source-specific multicast requests (specified source S and group G) sent from the user hosts must be in the SSM group range.
    • If SSM mapping is used to implement source-specific multicast forwarding between user hosts and an IGMP querier, the group addresses in source-specific multicast requests (specified source S and group G) sent from the user hosts must be in the SSM group range.
    • If IGMPv3 is running between user hosts and an IGMP querier, source-and-group-specific multicast requests (specified source S and group G) sent from the user hosts support only the Include mode for source filtering and do not support the Exclude mode.
    • The SSM group address range can be changed by configuring an SSM policy. The default range is 232.0.0.0 to 232.255.255.255.
  • Only the S5720-EI, S5720-HI, S5730-HI, S5731-H, S5731-S, S5731S-H, S5731S-S, S5732-H, S6720-EI, S6720-HI, S6720S-EI, S6730-H, S6730S-H, S6730-S, and S6730S-S support IGMP Proxy.
  • When IGMP multi-instance is configured, physical interfaces that have been switched to the Layer 3 mode using the undo portswitch cannot be bound to the VPN instances.
    Only the following versions of products support the IGMP multi-instance feature:
    • V200R005C01: S6700-EI and S5700-HI
    • V200R005C02: S6700-EI, S5700-HI, and S5710-HI
    • V200R005C03: S5710-HI
    • V200R010 and later versions: S5720-EI, S5720-HI, S5730-HI, S5731-H, S5731-S, S5731S-H, S5731S-S, S5732-H, S6720-EI, S6720-HI, S6720S-EI, S6730-H, S6730S-H, S6730-S, and S6730S-S
  • Only the S5720-HI, S5730-HI, S6720-HI, S5731-H, S5731S-H, S5732-H, S6730S-H, and S6730-H support wireless access to an IPv4 multicast network. When wireless users connect to the IPv4 multicast network, the Layer 3 interfaces connecting to wireless users do not support IGMP SSM mapping and static multicast group configuration.
  • If both Layer 2 and Layer 3 multicast services are required in a VLAN, enable IGMP on the corresponding VLANIF interface first, and then enable IGMP snooping in the VLAN. If IGMP snooping is enabled in the VLAN first, IGMP cannot be enabled on the VLANIF interface. In addition, the maximum number of Layer 3 multicast forwarding entries depends on the maximum number of Layer 2 multicast forwarding entries.
  • If a GPON optical module is installed on an interface of the switch, the interface supports only IGMPv2, and does not support IGMPv1 and IGMPv3.
  • In V200R013C00, assume that two VAP profiles are configured for an AP connected to the S5720-HI, S5730-HI, and S6720-HI, the forwarding mode in one VAP profile is tunnel forwarding, and the forwarding mode in the other VAP profile is direct forwarding. When two users access the network using the two profiles, the user who accesses the network using the VAP profile configured with direct forwarding mode will receive both directly forwarded and tunnelled multicast traffic. You are not advised to configure two VAP profiles in tunnel forwarding and direct forwarding modes on the same AP.
  • In V200R013C02 and later versions, after 1:1 VLAN mapping is configured, the VLANIF interface corresponding to a mapped VLAN supports IGMP functions. If multicast functions have been configured on the VLANIF interface before VLAN mapping is configured on a switch running earlier versions, the multicast functions will become unavailable after the switch is upgraded to V200R013C02.
Parent Topic: IGMP Configuration
Copyright © Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Copyright © Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
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