ip-maddress

ip [options] maddress { command | help }ip maddress [add | del] MULTIADDR dev NAMEip maddress show [dev NAME]

ip maddress manages link-layer multicast addresses. It displays which multicast groups (link, IPv4 and IPv6) a device is subscribed to and allows manual addition or removal of static link-layer multicast addresses. The object name can be abbreviated, e.g. maddr.Multicast addresses enable one-to-many communication, where a single packet can be received by multiple hosts that have joined the multicast group. This is commonly used for service discovery, streaming, and cluster communication.

show [dev DEVICE]

Display multicast addresses (optionally for specific device)

Attach a static link-layer multicast address to listen on the device

Detach a static link-layer multicast address from the device

Global ip options to restrict output to IPv4 or IPv6 groups

Display help information

Adding and deleting multicast addresses requires root privileges. Changes are not persistent across reboots. add and delete only manage link-layer (MAC) addresses: it is impossible to join protocol (IGMP/MLD) multicast groups statically with this command; applications join those via socket options.

The ip maddress command is part of iproute2, the modern replacement for the older net-tools package. iproute2 was developed by Alexey Kuznetsov in the late 1990s to provide a unified interface to Linux networking features.

ip(8), ip-link(8), ip-address(8)

Source code · Documentation