Patent ID: 8582572

Claim:
A method of operating a multicast router comprising a SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) agent and a MIB (Management Information Base) database, the method comprising: a) the multicast router receiving through a network interface multiple multicast data requests from one or more hosts; b) the multicast router storing state data based on the multiple multicast data requests, for the network interface, each multicast group address, and each host requesting multicast data, the state data comprising: i. an INCLUDE state record comprising identifying data of the network interface, identifying data of the multicast group address, identifying data of the host, an INCLUDE filter mode designator, and an INCLUDE source list; or ii. an EXCLUDE state record comprising identifying data of the network interface, identifying data of the multicast group address, identifying data of the host, an EXCLUDE filter mode designator, and an EXCLUDE source list; c) the multicast router storing in the MIB database information of multicast traffic requested by each host; d) the multicast router communicating with an SNMP control station, through the SNMP agent, using the SNMP protocol; e) the multicast router transmitting to the SNMP control station data related to multicast traffic requested by a first host; f) the multicast router receiving from the SNMP control station, in response to the data related to the multicast traffic requested by the first host, instructions to block the multicast data requests of the first host; and g) the multicast router blocking the multicast data requests from the first host.