Use the following options to control receiving of multicast packets:

IPV6_JOIN_GROUP

Enables an application to join a multicast group on a specific local interface. The socket option data specifies an IPv6 multicast address and an IPv6 interface index. IPv4-mapped IPv6 multicast addresses are not supported. If an interface index of 0 is specified, the stack selects a local interface. An application that wants to receive multicast packets destined for a multicast group needs to join that group. It is not necessary to join a multicast group to send multicast packets.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP.

IPV6_LEAVE_GROUP

Enables an application to leave a multicast group it previously joined. The socket option data specifies an IPv6 multicast address and an IPv6 interface index. If an interface index of 0 is used to join a multicast group, an interface index of 0 must be used to leave the group.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.

MCAST_JOIN_GROUP

Enables an application to join a multicast group on a specific local interface. The socket option data specifies an IPv4 or IPv6 multicast address and an IPv4 or IPv6 interface index. IPv4-mapped IPv6 multicast addresses are not supported. If the interface index 0 is specified, the stack selects a local interface. An application that wants to receive multicast packets destined for a multicast group needs to join that group. An application does not need to join a multicast group to send multicast packets.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP and the IPv6 socket option IPV6_JOIN_GROUP.

MCAST_BLOCK_SOURCE

Enables an application to exclude the reception of multicast packets from specified source IP addresses. This socket option is issued after an MCAST_JOIN_GROUP option has been issued.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_BLOCK_SOURCE.

MCAST_UNBLOCK_SOURCE

Enables an application to include the reception of multicast packets from previously excluded source IP addresses. This socket option is issued after the MCAST_JOIN_GROUP and the MCAST_BLOCK_SOURCE options have been issued.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_UNBLOCK_SOURCE.

MCAST_JOIN_SOURCE_GROUP

Enables an application to join a multicast group on a specific local interface and for a specific source address. The socket option data specifies an IPv4 or IPv6 multicast address, an IPv4 or IPv6 interface index, and a single IPv4 or IPv6 source address. IPv4-mapped IPv6 multicast addresses and IPv4-mapped IPv6 source addresses are not supported. If the interface index 0 is specified, the stack selects a local interface. To receive multicast packets that are destined for a multicast group and that are from a particular source IP address, an application needs to join that group for the source address. An application does not need to join a multicast group to send multicast packets. MCAST_JOIN_SOURCE_GROUP cannot be used with MCAST_JOIN_GROUP.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_ADD_SOURCE_MEMBERSHIP.

MCAST_LEAVE_GROUP

Enables an application to leave a multicast group that it previously joined or to leave all sources that joined for a multicast group. The socket option data specifies an IPv4 or IPv6 multicast address and an IPv4 or IPv6 interface index. If the interface index 0 was specified on the MCAST_LEAVE_GROUP option to join a multicast group, an interface index of 0 must be specified to leave the group.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.

MCAST_LEAVE_SOURCE_GROUP

Enables an application to leave a source multicast group that it previously joined. The socket option data specifies an IPv4 or IPv6 multicast address, an IPv4 or IPv6 interface index, and a single IPv4 or IPv6 source address. If the interface index 0 was specified on the MCAST_JOIN_SOURCE_GROUP option to join a multicast group, an interface index 0 must be specified to leave the group. MCAST_LEAVE_SOURCE_GROUP is used to leave the group that was joined by MCAST_JOIN_SOURCE_GROUP.

Restriction: Getsockopt() does not support this option.

Tip: This function is similar to the IPv4 socket option IP_DROP_SOURCE_MEMBERSHIP.