4.2. Requirements on the Host IP Module

An incoming datagram destined to an SSM address MUST be delivered by the IP module to all sockets that have indicated (via Subscribe) a desire to receive data that matches the datagram's source address, destination address, and arriving interface. It MUST NOT be delivered to other sockets.

When the first socket on host H subscribes to a channel (S,G) on interface I, the host IP module on H sends a request on interface I to indicate to neighboring routers that the host wishes to receive traffic sent by source S to source-specific multicast destination G. Similarly, when the last socket on a host unsubscribes from a channel on interface I, the host IP module sends an unsubscription request for that channel to interface I.

Holbrook & Cain Standards Track [Page 8] RFC 4607 Source-Specific Multicast August 2006

These requests will typically be Internet Group Management Protocol version 3 (IGMPv3) messages for IPv4, or Multicast Listener Discovery Version 2 (MLDv2) messages for IPv6 [IGMPv3,MLDv2]. A host that supports the SSM service model MUST implement the host portion of [IGMPv3] for IPv4 and [MLDv2] for IPv6. It MUST also conform to the IGMPv3/MLDv2 behavior described in [GMP-SSM].