EIGRP (Enhanced Interior

Gateway Routing Protocol)

CCNP Enterprise: Core Networking

Content

This chapter covers the following content:

• EIGRP Fundamentals - This section explains how EIGRP establishes a
neighbor adjacency with other routers and how routes are exchanged
with other routers.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
• EIGRP overcomes the deficiencies of other distance vector routing protocols with
unequal-cost load balancing, support for networks 255 hops away, and rapid
convergence features.
• EIGRP uses a diffusing update algorithm (DUAL) to identify network paths and enable
fast convergence using precalculated loop-free backup paths.
• EIGRP adds to the route selection algorithm logic that uses factors outside hop count.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
Autonomous Systems
A router can run multiple EIGRP processes. Each process operates under the context of
an autonomous system, which represents a common routing domain. Routers within the
same domain use the same metric calculation formula and exchange routes only with
members of the same autonomous system, as shown in the figure.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
EIGRP Terminology
Term Definition
Successor route The route with the lowest path metric to reach a destination. The
successor route for R1 to reach 10.4.4.0/24 on R4 is R1→R3→R4.
Successor The first next-hop router for the successor route.
The successor for 10.4.4.0/24 is R3.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
EIGRP Terminology (Cont.)
Term Definition
Feasible distance (FD) The metric value for the lowest-metric path to reach a destination. The FD
calculated by R1 for the 10.4.4.0/24 network is 3328 (that is, 256+256+2816).
Reported distance (RD) The distance reported by a router to reach a prefix. The reported distance
value is the feasible distance for the advertising router.
R3 advertises the 10.4.4.0/24 prefix with an RD of 3072. R4 advertises the
10.4.4.0/24 to R1 and R2 with an RD of 2816.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
EIGRP Terminology (Cont.)
Term Definition
Feasibility condition A condition under which, for a route to be considered a backup route, the
reported distance received for that route must be less than the feasible
distance calculated locally. This logic guarantees a loop-free path.
Feasibility successor A route that satisfies the feasibility condition and is maintained as a backup
route. The route R1→R4 is the feasible successor because the RD 2816 is
lower than the FD 3328 for the R1→R3→R4 path.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
Topology Table
EIGRP contains a topology table that makes it different from a “true” distance vector
routing protocol. EIGRP’s topology table is part of DUAL and helps to identify loop-free
backup routes. It contains all the network prefixes advertised within an EIGRP
autonomous system.
Each entry in the table contains the following:
• Network prefix
• EIGRP neighbors that have advertised that prefix
• Metrics from each neighbor (for example, reported distance, hop count)
• Values used for calculating the metric (for example, load, reliability, total delay,
minimum bandwidth)

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EIGRP Fundamentals
Topology Table (Cont.)
The show topology command
will display both successor and
feasible successors.

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EIGRP Fundamentals
EIGRP Neighbors
EIGRP neighbors exchange the entire routing table when forming an adjacency, and
they advertise only incremental updates as topology changes occur within a network.
EIGRP uses five different packet types to communicate with other routers.
Type Packet Function
Name
1 Hello Used for discovery of EIGRP neighbors and for detecting when a neighbor is
no longer available
2 Request Used to get specific information from one or more neighbors

3 Update Used to transmit routing and reachability information with other EIGRP
neighbors
4 Query Sent out to search for another path during convergence

5 Reply Sent in response to a query packet

Table 7-3 EIGRP Packet Types

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