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Igmp Proxy
My router has the ability to disable igmp proxy and British Telecom (BT) igmp proxy. What is this igmp thing (heard it has something to do with multicast) and should I disable it?
The router is Netgear R8500 and the modem Arris SB6190
Accepted Solution
Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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Unless you do any on network video conferencing or anything else where multicast routing is required, I would suggest disabling it.
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Omoeba
New Contributor
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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Video streaming is usually going to use HTTPS. Mirroring will use RDP or also HTTPS. Multicast is kind of like signing up for a email group list. The same thing is being sent to everyone, but only those that send a request to be part of the thread can see it. It's used a lot by some cable boxes(IPTV), but nothing Cox uses.
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Omoeba
New Contributor
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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Most likely not.
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Omoeba
New Contributor
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Are there performance or security concerns about enabling it?
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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Since you don't need it, then don't enable it. It is difficult to discuss security vulnerabilities of something as ornate as IGMP in layman's terms. If you are still curious, feel free to look up more about it online or see this article here.
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Omoeba
New Contributor
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You can be as technical as you want
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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I don't have a running knowledge of IGMP, just general practice based on messing around in wireshark. I was digging with google to try to help answer your specific question, but I really don't "want" to or have the ability to carry a entire thread on the subject.
AFAIK the need for a IGMP proxy is rare, and I have left it disabled on my router and haven't had issue with anything streaming video(up or down), IPv6, or anything else I know of to use multicast traffic. Gaming is fine. VOIP(Google Voice) is fine.
However if your question is what the security vulnerabilities are of leaving IGMP proxy enabled, I just don't know. Please feel free to bump the thread and hopefully someone else can comment who has more experience on the security side of things.
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