Internet Engineering Task Force S. Deering, Cisco Systems
IPng Working Group W. Fenner, AT&T Research
INTERNET-DRAFT B. Haberman, IBM
Expires December 1999 June 1999
Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) for IPv6
draft-ietf-ipngwg-mld-02.txt
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 [STD-PROC].
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within the Internet Engineering Task Force. Comments are solicited and
should be addressed to the working group's mailing list at ipng@sun-
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Abstract
This document specifies the protocol used by an IPv6 router to dis-
cover the presence of multicast listeners (that is, nodes wishing
to receive multicast packets) on its directly attached links, and
to discover specifically which multicast addresses are of interest
to those neighboring nodes. This protocol is referred to as Multi-
cast Listener Discovery or MLD.
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MLD is derived from version 2 of IPv4's Internet Group Management
Protocol, IGMPv2. One important difference to note is that MLD
uses ICMPv6 (IP Protocol 58) message types, rather than IGMP (IP
Protocol 2) message types.
1. Definitions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].
2. Introduction
The purpose of Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) is to enable each IPv6
router to discover the presence of multicast listeners (that is, nodes
wishing to receive multicast packets) on its directly attached links,
and to discover specifically which multicast addresses are of interest
to those neighboring nodes. This information is then provided to
whichever multicast routing protocol is being used by the router, in
order to ensure that multicast packets are delivered to all links where
there are interested receivers.
MLD is an asymmetric protocol, specifying different behaviors for multi-
cast listeners and for routers. For those multicast addresses to which
a router itself is listening, the router performs both parts of the pro-
tocol, including responding to its own messages.
If a router has more than one interface to the same link, it need per-
form the router part of MLD over only one of those interfaces. Listen-
ers, on the other hand, must perform the listener part of MLD on all
interfaces from which an application or upper-layer protocol has
requested reception of multicast packets.
3. Message Format
MLD is a sub-protocol of ICMPv6, that is, MLD message types are a subset
of the set of ICMPv6 messages, and MLD messages are identified in IPv6
packets by a preceding Next Header value of 58. All MLD messages
described in this document are sent with a link-local IPv6 Source
Address, an IPv6 Hop Limit of 1, and an IPv6 Router Alert option [RTR-
ALERT] in a Hop-by-Hop Options header. (The Router Alert option is nec-
essary to cause routers to examine MLD messages sent to multicast
addresses in which the routers themselves have no interest.)
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MLD messages have the following format:
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Type | Code | Checksum |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Maximum Response Delay | Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
+ +
| |
+ Multicast Address +
| |
+ +
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
3.1. Type
There are three types of MLD messages:
Multicast Listener Query (Type = decimal 130)
There are two subtypes of Multicast Listener Query messages:
- General Query, used to learn which multicast addresses have
listeners on an attached link.
- Multicast-Address-Specific Query, used to learn if a partic-
ular multicast address has any listeners on an attached
link.
These two subtypes are differentiated by the contents of the
Multicast Address field, as described in section 3.6.
Multicast Listener Report (Type = decimal 131)
Multicast Listener Done (Type = decimal 132)
In the rest of this document, the above messages types are referred
to simply as "Query", "Report", and "Done".
3.2. Code
Initialized to zero by the sender; ignored by receivers.
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3.3. Checksum
The standard ICMPv6 checksum, covering the entire MLD message plus
a "pseudo-header" of IPv6 header fields [ICMPv6,IPv6].
3.4. Maximum Response Delay
The Maximum Response Delay field is meaningful only in Query mes-
sages, and specifies the maximum allowed delay before sending a
responding Report, in units of milliseconds. In all other mes-
sages, it is set to zero by the sender and ignored by receivers.
Varying this value allows the routers to tune the "leave latency"
(the time between the moment the last node on a link ceases listen-
ing to a particular multicast address and moment the routing proto-
col is notified that there are no longer any listeners for that
address), as discussed in section 7.8. It also allows tuning of
the burstiness of MLD traffic on a link, as discussed in section
7.3.
3.5. Reserved
Initialized to zero by the sender; ignored by receivers.
3.6. Multicast Address
In a Query message, the Multicast Address field is set to zero when
sending a General Query, and set to a specific IPv6 multicast
address when sending a Multicast-Address-Specific Query.
In a Report or Done message, the Multicast Address field holds a
specific IPv6 multicast address to which the message sender is lis-
tening or is ceasing to listen, respectively.
3.7. Other fields
The length of a received MLD message is computed by taking the IPv6
Payload Length value and subtracting the length of any IPv6 exten-
sion headers present between the IPv6 header and the MLD message.
If that length is greater than 24 octets, that indicates that there
are other fields present beyond the fields described above, perhaps
belonging to a future backwards-compatible version of MLD. An
implementation of the version of MLD specified in this document
MUST NOT send an MLD message longer than 24 octets and MUST ignore
anything past the first 24 octets of a received MLD message. In
all cases, the MLD checksum MUST be computed over the entire MLD
message, not just the first 24 octets.
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4. Protocol Description
Note that defaults for timer values are described later in this docu-
ment. Timer and counter names appear in square brackets.
Routers use MLD to learn which multicast addresses have listeners on
each of their attached links. Each router keeps a list, for each
attached link, of which multicast addresses have listeners on that link,
and a timer associated with each of those addresses. Note that the
router needs to learn only that listeners for a given multicast address
are present on a link; it does NOT need to learn the identity (e.g.,
unicast address) of those listeners or even how many listeners are pre-
sent.
For each attached link, a router selects one of its link-local unicast
addresses on that link to be used as the IPv6 Source Address in all MLD
packets it transmits on that link.
For each interface over which the router is operating the MLD protocol,
the router must configure that interface to listen to all link-layer
multicast address that can be generated by IPv6 multicasts. For exam-
ple, an Ethernet-attached router must set its Ethernet address reception
filter to accept all Ethernet multicast addresses that start with the
hexadecimal value 3333 [IPv6-ETHER]; in the case of an Ethernet inter-
face that does not support the filtering of such a range of multicast
address, it must be configured to accept ALL Ethernet multicast
addresses, in order to meet the requirements of MLD.
With respect to each of its attached links, a router may assume one of
two roles: Querier or Non-Querier. There is normally only one Querier
per link. All routers start up as a Querier on each of their attached
links. If a router hears a Query message whose IPv6 Source Address is
numerically less than its own selected address for that link, it MUST
become a Non-Querier on that link. If [Other Querier Present Interval]
passes without receiving, from a particular attached link, any Queries
from a router with an address less than its own, a router resumes the
role of Querier on that link.
A Querier for a link periodically [Query Interval] sends a General Query
on that link, to solicit reports of all multicast addresses of interest
on that link. On startup, a router SHOULD send [Startup Query Count]
General Queries spaced closely together [Startup Query Interval] on all
attached links in order to quickly and reliably discover the presence of
multicast listeners on those links.
General Queries are sent to the link-scope all-nodes multicast address
(FF02::1), with a Multicast Address field of 0, and a Maximum Response
Delay of [Query Response Interval].
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When a node receives a General Query, it sets a delay timer for each
multicast address to which it is listening on the interface from which
it received the Query, EXCLUDING the link-scope all-nodes address and
any multicast addresses of scope 0 (reserved) or 1 (node-local). Each
timer is set to a different random value, using the highest clock granu-
larity available on the node, selected from the range [0, Maximum
Response Delay] with Maximum Response Delay as specified in the Query
packet. If a timer for any address is already running, it is reset to
the new random value only if the requested Maximum Response Delay is
less than the remaining value of the running timer. If the Query packet
specifies a Maximum Response Delay of zero, each timer is effectively
set to zero, and the action specified below for timer expiration is per-
formed immediately.
When a node receives a Multicast-Address-Specific Query, if it is lis-
tening to the queried Multicast Address on the interface from which the
Query was received, it sets a delay timer for that address to a random
value selected from the range [0, Maximum Response Delay], as above. If
a timer for the address is already running, it is reset to the new ran-
dom value only if the requested Maximum Response Delay is less than the
remaining value of the running timer. If the Query packet specifies a
Maximum Response Delay of zero, the timer is effectively set to zero,
and the action specified below for timer expiration is performed immedi-
ately.
If a node's timer for a particular multicast address on a particular
interface expires, the node transmits a Report to that address via that
interface; the address being reported is carried in both the IPv6 Desti-
nation Address field and the MLD Multicast Address field of the Report
packet. The IPv6 Hop Limit of 1 (as well as the presence of a link-
local IPv6 Source Address) prevent the packet from traveling beyond the
link to which the reporting interface is attached.
If a node receives another node's Report from an interface for a multi-
cast address while it has a timer running for that same address on that
interface, it stops its timer and does not send a Report for that
address, thus suppressing duplicate reports on the link.
When a router receives a Report from a link, if the reported address is
not already present in the router's list of multicast address having
listeners on that link, the reported address is added to the list, its
timer is set to [Multicast Listener Interval], and its appearance is
made known to the router's multicast routing component. If a Report is
received for a multicast address that is already present in the router's
list, the timer for that address is reset to [Multicast Listener Inter-
val]. If an address's timer expires, it is assumed that there are no
longer any listeners for that address present on the link, so it is
deleted from the list and its disappearance is made known to the
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multicast routing component.
When a node starts listening to a multicast address on an interface, it
should immediately transmit an unsolicited Report for that address on
that interface, in case it is the first listener on the link. To cover
the possibility of the initial Report being lost or damaged, it is rec-
ommended that it be repeated once or twice after short delays [Unso-
licited Report Interval]. (A simple way to accomplish this is to send
the initial Report and then act as if a Multicast-Address-Specific Query
was received for that address, and set a timer appropriately).
When a node ceases to listen to a multicast address on an interface, it
SHOULD send a single Done message to the link-scope all-routers multi-
cast address (FF02::2), carrying in its Multicast Address field the
address to which it is ceasing to listen. If the node's most recent
Report message was suppressed by hearing another Report message, it MAY
send nothing, as it is highly likely that there is another listener for
that address still present on the same link. If this optimization is
implemented, it MUST be able to be turned off but SHOULD default to on.
When a router in Querier state receives a Done message from a link, if
the Multicast Address identified in the message is present in the
Querier's list of addresses having listeners on that link, the Querier
sends [Last Listener Query Count] Multicast-Address-Specific Queries,
one every [Last Listener Query Interval] to that multicast address.
These Multicast-Address-Specific Queries have their Maximum Response
Delay set to [Last Listener Query Interval]. If no Reports for the
address are received from the link after the response delay of the last
query has passed, the routers on the link assume that the address no
longer has any listeners there; the address is therefore deleted from
the list and its disappearance is made known to the multicast routing
component. This process is continued to its resolution (i.e. until a
Report is received or the last Multicast-Address-Specific Query is sent
with no response) despite any transition from Querier to Non-Querier on
this link.
Routers in Non-Querier state MUST ignore Done messages.
When a router in Non-Querier state receives a Multicast-Address-Specific
Query, if its timer value for the identified multicast address is
greater than [Last Listener Query Count] times the Maximum Response
Delay specified in the message, it sets the address's timer to that lat-
ter value.
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5. Node State Transition Diagram
Node behavior is more formally specified by the state transition diagram
below. A node may be in one of three possible states with respect to
any single IPv6 multicast address on any single interface:
- "Non-Listener" state, when the node is not listening to the address on
the interface (i.e., no upper-layer protocol or application has
requested reception of packets to that multicast address). This is
the initial state for all multicast addresses on all interfaces; it
requires no storage in the node.
- "Delaying Listener" state, when the node is listening to the address
on the interface and has a report delay timer running for that
address.
- "Idle Listener" state, when the node is listening to the address on
the interface and does not have a report delay timer running for that
address.
There are five significant events that can cause MLD state transitions:
- "start listening" occurs when the node starts listening to the address
on the interface. It may occur only in the Non-Listener state.
- "stop listening" occurs when the node stops listening to the address
on the interface. It may occur only in the Delaying Listener and Idle
Listener states.
- "query received" occurs when the node receives either a valid General
Query message, or a valid Multicast-Address-Specific Query message.
To be valid, the Query message MUST come from a link-local IPv6 Source
Address, be at least 24 octets long, and have a correct MLD checksum.
The Multicast Address field in the MLD message must contain either
zero (a General Query) or a valid multicast address (a Multicast-
Address-Specific Query). A General Query applies to all multicast
addresses on the interface from which the Query is received. A Multi-
cast-Address-Specific Query applies to a single multicast address on
the interface from which the Query is received. Queries are ignored
for addresses in the Non-Listener state.
- "report received" occurs when the node receives a valid MLD Report
message. To be valid, the Report message MUST come from a link-local
IPv6 Source Address, be at least 24 octets long, and have a correct
MLD checksum. A Report applies only to the address identified in the
Multicast Address field of the Report, on the interface from which the
Report is received. It is ignored in the Non-Listener or Idle Lis-
tener state.
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- "timer expired" occurs when the report delay timer for the address on
the interface expires. It may occur only in the Delaying Listener
state.
All other events, such as receiving invalid MLD messages or MLD message
types other than Query or Report, are ignored in all states.
There are seven possible actions that may be taken in response to the
above events:
- "send report" for the address on the interface. The Report message is
sent to the address being reported.
- "send done" for the address on the interface. If the flag saying we
were the last node to report is cleared, this action MAY be skipped.
The Done message is sent to the link-scope all-routers address
(FF02::2).
- "set flag" that we were the last node to send a report for this
address.
- "clear flag" since we were not the last node to send a report for this
address.
- "start timer" for the address on the interface, using a delay value
chosen uniformly from the interval [0, Maximum Response Delay], where
Maximum Response Delay is specified in the Query. If this is an unso-
licited Report, the timer is set to a delay value chosen uniformly
from the interval [0, [Unsolicited Report Interval] ].
- "reset timer" for the address on the interface to a new value, using a
delay value chosen uniformly from the interval [0, Maximum Response
Delay], as described in "start timer".
- "stop timer" for the address on the interface.
In all of the following state transition diagrams, each state transition
arc is labeled with the event that causes the transition, and, in paren-
theses, any actions taken during the transition. Note that the transi-
tion is always triggered by the event; even if the action is condi-
tional, the transition still occurs.
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________________
| |
| |
| |
| |
--------->| Non-Listener |<---------
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |________________| |
| | |
| stop listening | start listening | stop listening
| (stop timer, |(send report, | (send done if
| send done if | set flag, | flag set)
| flag set) | start timer) |
________|________ | ________|________
| |<--------- | |
| | | |
| |<-------------------| |
| | query received | |
| Delaying | (start timer) | Idle |
---->| Listener |------------------->| Listener |
| | | report received | |
| | | (stop timer, | |
| | | clear flag) | |
| |_________________|------------------->|_________________|
| query received | timer expired
| (reset timer if | (send report,
| Max Resp Delay | set flag)
| < current timer) |
-------------------
The link-scope all-nodes address (FF02::1) is handled as a special case.
The node starts in Idle Listener state for that address on every inter-
face, never transitions to another state, and never sends a Report or
Done for that address.
MLD messages are never sent for multicast addresses whose scope is 0
(reserved) or 1 (node-local).
MLD messages ARE sent for multicast addresses whose scope is 2 (link-
local), including Solicited-Node multicast addresses [ADDR-ARCH], except
for the link-scope, all-nodes address (FF02::1).
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6. Router State Transition Diagram
Router behavior is more formally specified by the state transition dia-
grams below.
A router may be in one of two possible states with respect to any single
attached link:
- "Querier", when this router is designated to transmit MLD Queries on
this link.
- "Non-Querier", when there is another router designated to transmit MLD
Queries on this link.
The following three events can cause the router to change states:
- "query timer expired" occurs when the timer set for query transmission
expires. This event is significant only when in the Querier state.
- "query received from a router with a lower IP address" occurs when a
valid MLD Query is received from a router on the same link with a
lower IPv6 Source Address. To be valid, the Query message MUST come
from a link-local IPv6 Source Address, be at least 24 octets long, and
have a correct MLD checksum.
- "other querier present timer expired" occurs when the timer set to
note the presence of another querier with a lower IP address on the
link expires. This event is significant only when in the Non-Querier
state.
There are three actions that may be taken in response to the above
events:
- "start general query timer" for the attached link to [Query Interval].
- "start other querier present timer" for the attached link to [Other
Querier Present Interval].
- "send general query" on the attached link. The General Query is sent
to the link-scope all-nodes address (FF02::1), and has a Maximum
Response Delay of [Query Response Interval].
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--------------------------------
_______|________ gen. query timer |
--------- | | expired |
| Initial |---------------->| | (send general query, |
--------- (send gen. q., | | start gen. q. timer) |
start initial gen. q. | |<----------------------
timer) | Querier |
| |
-----| |<---
| | | |
| |________________| |
query received from a | | other querier
router with a lower | | present timer
IP address | | expired
(start other querier | ________________ | (send gen. query,
present timer) | | | | start gen. q. timer)
| | | |
| | | |
---->| Non |----
| Querier |
| |
| |
---->| |----
| |________________| |
| query received from a |
| router with a lower IP |
| address |
| (start other querier |
| present timer) |
---------------------------
A router starts in the Initial state on all attached links, and immedi-
ately transitions to Querier state.
In addition, to keep track of which multicast addresses have listeners,
a router may be in one of three possible states with respect to any sin-
gle IPv6 multicast address on any single attached link:
- "No Listeners Present" state, when there are no nodes on the link that
have sent a Report for this multicast address. This is the initial
state for all multicast addresses on the router; it requires no stor-
age in the router.
- "Listeners Present" state, when there is a node on the link that has
sent a Report for this multicast address.
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- "Checking Listeners" state, when the router has received a Done mes-
sage but has not yet heard a Report for the identified address.
There are five significant events that can cause router state transi-
tions:
- "report received" occurs when the router receives a Report for the
address from the link. To be valid, the Report message MUST come from
a link-local IPv6 Source Address, be at least 24 octets long, and have
a correct MLD checksum.
- "done received" occurs when the router receives a Done message for the
address from the link. To be valid, the Done message MUST come from a
link-local IPv6 Source Address, be at least 24 octets long, and have a
correct MLD checksum. This event is significant only in the "Listen-
ers Present" state and when the router is a Querier.
- "multicast-address-specific query received" occurs when a router
receives a Multicast-Address-Specific Query for the address from the
link. To be valid, the Query message MUST come from a link-local IPv6
Source Address, be at least 24 octets long, and have a correct MLD
checksum. This event is significant only in the "Listeners Present"
state and when the router is a Non-Querier.
- "timer expired" occurs when the timer set for a multicast address
expires. This event is significant only in the "Listeners Present" or
"Checking Listeners" state.
- "retransmit timer expired" occurs when the timer set to retransmit a
Multicast-Address-Specific Query expires. This event is significant
only in the "Checking Listeners" state.
There are seven possible actions that may be taken in response to the
above events:
- "start timer" for the address on the link - also resets the timer to
its initial value [Multicast Listener Interval] if the timer is cur-
rently running.
- "start timer*" for the address on the link - this alternate action
sets the timer to the minimum of its current value and either [Last
Listener Query Interval] * [Last Listener Query Count] if this router
is a Querier, or the Maximum Response Delay in the Query message *
[Last Listener Query Count] if this router is a non-Querier.
- "start retransmit timer" for the address on the link [Last Listener
Query Interval].
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- "clear retransmit timer" for the address on the link.
- "send multicast-address-specific query" for the address on the link.
The Multicast-Address-Specific Query is sent to the address being
queried, and has a Maximum Response Delay of [Last Listener Query
Interval].
- "notify routing +" internally notify the multicast routing protocol
that there are listeners to this address on this link.
- "notify routing -" internally notify the multicast routing protocol
that there are no longer any listeners to this address on this link.
The following state diagrams apply per group per link. There are two
diagrams; one for routers in Querier state and one for routers in Non-
Querier state. The transition between Querier and Non-Querier state on
a link is handled specially. All groups on that link in "No Listeners
Present" or "Listeners Present" states switch state transition diagrams
when the Querier/Non-Querier state transition occurs. However, any
groups in "Checking Listeners" state continue with the same state tran-
sition diagram until the "Checking Listeners" state is exited. E.g. a
router that starts as a Querier, receives a Done message for a group and
then receives a Query from a router with a lower address (causing a
transition to the Non-Querier state) continues to send multicast-
address-specific queries for the group in question until it either
receives a Report or its timer expires, at which time it starts perform-
ing the actions of a Non-Querier for this group.
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The state transition diagram for a router in Querier state follows:
________________
| |
| |timer expired
timer expired| |(notify routing -,
(notify routing -)| No Listeners |clear rxmt tmr)
------->| Present |<---------
| | | |
| | | |
| |________________| | ---------------
| | | | rexmt timer |
| report received| | | expired |
| (notify routing +,| | | (send m-a-s |
| start timer)| | | query, |
__________|______ | ________|_|______ st rxmt |
| |<------------ | | tmr) |
| | | |<-------
| | report received | |
| | (start timer, | |
| | clear rxmt tmr) | |
| Listeners |<-------------------| Checking |
| Present | done received | Listeners |
| | (start timer*, | |
| | start rxmt timer, | |
| | send m-a-s query) | |
--->| |------------------->| |
| |_________________| |_________________|
| report received |
| (start timer) |
-----------------
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The state transition diagram for a router in Non-Querier state is simi-
lar, but non-Queriers do not send any messages and are only driven by
message reception.
________________
| |
| |
timer expired| |timer expired
(notify routing -)| No Listeners |(notify routing -)
--------->| Present |<---------
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |________________| |
| | |
| |report received |
| |(notify routing +,|
| | start timer) |
________|________ | ________|________
| |<--------- | |
| | report received | |
| | (start timer) | |
| Listeners |<-------------------| Checking |
| Present | m-a-s query rec'd | Listeners |
| | (start timer*) | |
---->| |------------------->| |
| |_________________| |_________________|
| report received |
| (start timer) |
-----------------
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7. List of timers and default values
Most of these timers are configurable. If non-default settings are
used, they MUST be consistent among all routers on a single link. Note
that parentheses are used to group expressions to make the algebra
clear.
7.1. Robustness Variable
The Robustness Variable allows tuning for the expected packet loss on a
link. If a link is expected to be lossy, the Robustness Variable may be
increased. MLD is robust to (Robustness Variable - 1) packet losses.
The Robustness Variable MUST NOT be zero, and SHOULD NOT be one.
Default: 2
7.2. Query Interval
The Query Interval is the interval between General Queries sent by the
Querier. Default: 125 seconds.
By varying the [Query Interval], an administrator may tune the number of
MLD messages on the link; larger values cause MLD Queries to be sent
less often.
7.3. Query Response Interval
The Maximum Response Delay inserted into the periodic General Queries.
Default: 10000 (10 seconds)
By varying the [Query Response Interval], an administrator may tune the
burstiness of MLD messages on the link; larger values make the traffic
less bursty, as node responses are spread out over a larger interval.
The number of seconds represented by the [Query Response Interval] must
be less than the [Query Interval].
7.4. Multicast Listener Interval
The Multicast Listener Interval is the amount of time that must pass
before a router decides there are no more listeners for an address on a
link. This value MUST be ((the Robustness Variable) times (the Query
Interval)) plus (one Query Response Interval).
7.5. Other Querier Present Interval
The Other Querier Present Interval is the length of time that must pass
before a router decides that there is no longer another router which
should be the querier on a link. This value MUST be ((the Robustness
Variable) times (the Query Interval)) plus (one half of one Query
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Response Interval).
7.6. Startup Query Interval
The Startup Query Interval is the interval between General Queries sent
by a Querier on startup. Default: 1/4 the Query Interval.
7.7. Startup Query Count
The Startup Query Count is the number of Queries sent out on startup,
separated by the Startup Query Interval. Default: the Robustness Vari-
able.
7.8. Last Listener Query Interval
The Last Listener Query Interval is the Maximum Response Delay inserted
into Multicast-Address-Specific Queries sent in response to Done mes-
sages, and is also the amount of time between Multicast-Address-Specific
Query messages. Default: 1000 (1 second)
This value may be tuned to modify the "leave latency" of the link. A
reduced value results in reduced time to detect the departure of the
last listener for an address.
7.9. Last Listener Query Count
The Last Listener Query Count is the number of Multicast-Address-Spe-
cific Queries sent before the router assumes there are no remaining lis-
teners for an address on a link. Default: the Robustness Variable.
7.10. Unsolicited Report Interval
The Unsolicited Report Interval is the time between repetitions of a
node's initial report of interest in a multicast address. Default: 10
seconds.
8. Message Destinations
This information is provided elsewhere in the document, but is summa-
rized here for convenience.
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Message Type IPv6 Destination Address
------------ ------------------------
General Query link-scope all-nodes (FF02::1)
Multicast-Address-Specific Query the multicast address being queried
Report the multicast address being reported
Done link-scope all-routers (FF02::2)
9. Security Considerations
We consider the ramifications of a forged message of each type. Note
that the requirement that nodes verify that the IPv6 Source Address of
all received MLD messages is a link-local address defends them from act-
ing on forged MLD messages originated off-link, so we discuss only the
effects of on-link forgery.
Query message:
A forged Query message from a machine with a lower IP address than
the current Querier will cause Querier duties to be assigned to the
forger. If the forger then sends no more Query messages, other
routers' Other Querier Present timer will time out and one will
resume the role of Querier. During this time, if the forger
ignores Done messages, traffic might flow to addresses with no lis-
teners for up to [Multicast Listener Interval].
A forged Query message sent to an address with listeners will cause
one or more nodes that are listeners to that address to send a
Report. This causes a small amount of extra traffic on the link,
but causes no protocol problems.
Report message:
A forged Report message may cause routers to think there are lis-
teners for an address present on a link when there are not. How-
ever, since listening to a multicast address is generally an
unprivileged operation, a local user may trivially gain the same
result without forging any messages.
Done message:
A forged Done message will cause the Querier to send out Multicast-
Address-Specific Queries for the address in question. This causes
extra processing on each router and on each of the address's lis-
teners, and extra packets on the link, but cannot cause loss of
desired traffic.
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10. Acknowledgments
MLD was derived from IGMPv2 [IGMPv2], which was designed by Rosen Sharma
and Steve Deering and documented by Bill Fenner.
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11. References
[ADDR-ARCH] Hinden, R. and Deering, S., "IP Version 6 Addressing
Architecture", RFC 2373, July 1998.
[ICMPv6] Conta, A. and Deering, S., "Internet Control Message Pro-
tocol (ICMPv6) for the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)
Specification", RFC 2463, December 1998.
[IGMPv2] Fenner, W., "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version
2", RFC 2236, November 1997.
[IPv6] Deering, S. and Hinden, R., "Internet Protocol, Version 6
(IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, December 1998.
[IPv6-ETHER] Crawford, M., "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet
Networks", RFC 2464, December, 1998.
[KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", RFC 2119/BCP 14, March 1997.
[RTR-ALERT] Katz, D., Atkinson, R., Partridge, C. and Jackson, A.,
"IPv6 Router Alert Option", RFC ????, ??? 1999.
[STD-PROC] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", RFC 2026, October 1996.
12. Authors' Addresses
Stephen E. Deering
Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-1706
USA
Phone: +1 408 527 8213
Email: deering@cisco.com
William C. Fenner
AT&T Research
75 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
USA
Phone: +1 650 867 6073
Email: fenner@research.att.com
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Brian Haberman
IBM Corporation
800 Park Office Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
USA
Phone: +1 919 254 2673
Email: haberman@raleigh.ibm.com
13. Changes From Previous Draft
13.1. Changes from draft -00
- Moved description of MLD message format onto a separate section.
- Added a sentence explaining why the Router Alert option is required in
MLD messages.
- Added a paragraph explaining that routers must set their link-layer
address filters (e.g., Ethernet address filters) to accept all link-
layer multicast addresses that can be generated by IPv6 multicast.
- Specified the required behavior when the Maximum Response Time in a
received Query packet is zero.
- Added clarification that MLD messages are generated for link-local
multicast addresses, including Solicited-Node addresses.
- Corrected one of the state-transition diagrams to refer to "done
received" instead of "leave received".
- Added some references and updated some others.
13.2. Changes from draft -01
- Fixed several consistency and clarity problems pointed out during AD
review.
- Suppression of Done messages is based upon whether or not this
node's last Report was suppressed.
- The text about the special case of a Querier<>Non-Querier transition
while a router is performing the Checking Listener function was con-
fusing and inadequately specified the actions taken.
- Added missing states and actions on state diagram transitions.
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- Added descriptions of in what state(s) an event is significant to
the router state diagrams.
- Added wording about only decreasing running timers to General Queries
too. This should not be a common occurrence but is possible so should
be documented.
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