Internet Group Management Protocol is defined in RFC 1112 as the standard for IP multicastingin the Internet.
It’s used to establish host memberships in particular multicast groups on a single network. The mechanisms of the protocol allow a host to inform its local router, using Host Membership Reports, that it wants to receive messages addressed to a specific multicast group.
All hosts conforming to level 2 of the IP multicasting specification require IGMP.
