Configuring Cisco Group Management Protocol

Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP) reduces the unnecessary flooding of IP multicast packets by limiting the transmission of these packets to groups of CGMP clients that request them. Clients (end stations) automatically join and leave groups that receive IP multicast traffic, and the switch dynamically changes its forwarding behavior according to join and leave requests.

CGMP works with the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and requires a connection to a router running CGMP and IGMP. When the router receives an IGMP request from a client, it forwards this information to the switch in a CGMP packet. The switch uses this information to alter its forwarding behavior.

You can enable and disable CGMP, and perform related configuration tasks, by selecting Device > CGMP and using the CGMP Window.