This specification defines a discovery protocol to locate services. In an ad hoc mode of operation, probes are sent to a multicast group, and target services that match return a response directly to the requester. To scale to a large number of endpoints and to extend the reach of the protocol, this protocol defines a managed mode of operation and a multicast suppression behavior if a discovery proxy is available on the network. To minimize the need for polling, target services that wish to be discovered send an announcement when they join and leave the network.