Layer 2 multicast protocols
In Figure 9, Layer 2 multicast protocols include IGMP snooping, MLD snooping, PIM snooping, IPv6 PIM snooping, multicast VLAN, and IPv6 multicast VLAN.
Figure 9: Positions of Layer 2 multicast protocols
IGMP snooping and MLD snooping:
IGMP snooping and MLD snooping are multicast constraining mechanisms that run on Layer 2 devices. They manage and control multicast groups by monitoring and analyzing IGMP or MLD messages exchanged between the hosts and Layer 3 multicast devices. This effectively controls the flooding of multicast data in Layer 2 networks.
PIM snooping and IPv6 PIM snooping:
PIM snooping and IPv6 PIM snooping run on Layer 2 devices. They work with IGMP snooping or MLD snooping to analyze received PIM messages. Then, they add the ports that are interested in specific multicast data to a PIM snooping routing entry or IPv6 PIM snooping routing entry. In this way, multicast data can be forwarded to only the ports that are interested in the data.
Multicast VLAN and IPv6 multicast VLAN:
Multicast VLAN or IPv6 multicast VLAN runs on a Layer 2 device in a multicast network where multicast receivers for the same group exist in different VLANs. With these protocols, the Layer 3 multicast device sends only one copy of multicast to the multicast VLAN or IPv6 multicast VLAN on the Layer 2 device. This method avoids waste of network bandwidth and extra burden on the Layer 3 device.