EIGRP Concepts in a Nutshell

EIGRP is an advanced distance-vector routing Features of EIGRP

protocol that relies on features commonly associated • Classless Routing Protocol (VLSM, CIDR)
with link-state protocols. • Faster convergence times
Administrative Distance
• Multiprotocol support:
• Internal 90; Summary 5; External 170
• Rapid Convergence and Better handling of
Metrics: Bandwidth, Delay, Reliability, Load routing loops – (DUAL)
• Efficient Use of Bandwidth
Default Metric – Partial, bounded updates: Incremental
bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth kbps) * 256 updates only to the routers that need
delay = (delay/10) * 256 them.
32 bit metric for bandwidth and delay – Minimal bandwidth consumption: no
more that 50% of link’s bandwidth
Routing Table Metric: Slowest of bandwidth plus EIGRP packets.
the sum of the delays of all outgoing interfaces from • PDM (Protocol Dependent Module)
“this router” to the destination network. • Unequal-cost load balancing
External routes (redistributed) are tagged as Hellos
external routes (EX) • Used by the neighbor discovery and recovery
process.
Automatic redistribution between IGRP and • Multicast
EIGRP as long as “AS” numbers are the same. • Unreliable delivery
• T1 and faster : Hello interval 5 seconds, hold
Operation of EIGRP time 15 seconds
• RTP, PDM, Neighbor Discovery, DUAL • slower than T1: Hello interval 60 seconds, hold
time 180 seconds
RTP • If a neighbor is not heard from for the duration of
• Reliable RTP is used for EIGRP queries, the hold time (three times hello interval), EIGRP
updates and replies (224.0.0.10) considers that neighbor down, and DUAL must
step in to reevaluate the routing table.
• Unreliable RTP is used for EIGRP Hello’s and • EIGRP routers do not need to have the same
Ack’s
hello intervals and hold down intervals
Neighbor Adjacency
• Dynamically learn of new routes that join their
network
• Identify routers that become either unreachable Acknowledgements (ACK)
or inoperable • Hello packets with no data
• Rediscover routers that had previously been • Unicast
unreachable • Unreliable delivery

DUAL Updates
This engine contains all the logic used to calculate • Transmitted only when necessary
and compare routes in an EIGRP network • Unicast when sent to a specific router
• DUAL selects alternate routes quickly by using • Multicast when sent to multiple routers
the information in the EIGRP tables. • Reliable delivery
• If a link goes down, DUAL looks for a feasible
successor in its neighbor and topology tables.
•
PDM Queries and Replies
Different PDMs can be added to EIGRP as new • Used by DUAL FSM
routed protocols are enhanced or developed • Queries: Multicast or Unicast
• Replies: Unicast
• Reliable delivery

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Successor – Current Route • A passive route is one that is stable and
Feasible Successor - A backup route available for use.
• An active route is a route in the process of
being recomputed by DUAL.

SIA (Stuck in Active) – When query does not get a If an EIGRP router loses its successor and cannot
reply. find a feasible successor for a route, DUAL moves
the route from passive state to active state.

Feasible distance (FD) is the minimum distance (metric) along a path to a destination network.

Reported distance (RD) is the distance (metric) towards a destination as advertised by an upstream
neighbor. Reported distance is the distance reported in the queries, the replies and the updates.

A neighbor meets the feasible condition(FC) if the reported distance by the neighbor is smaller than or
equal to the current feasible distance (FD) of this router. "If a neighbors metric is less than mine, then I know
the neighbor doesn't have a loop going through me."

A feasible successor is a neighbor whose reported distance (RD) is less the current feasible distance (FD).
Feasible successor is one who meets the feasible condition (FC).

Topology Table Neighbor Table

• Listing of all successors and feasible successors • Lists adjacent routers.
Commands
Router(config)#router eigrp autonomous-system-number
• This value must match all routers within the internetwork.

Router(config-router)#network network-number [wildcard-mask]

• The network command configures only connected networks.
Router(config-router)#eigrp log-neighbor-changes
• This command enables the logging of neighbor adjacency changes to monitor the stability of the
routing system and to help detect problems.

Router(config-if)#bandwidth kilobits
• When configuring serial links using EIGRP it is important to configure the bandwidth setting on the
interface. If the bandwidth setting is not changed for these interfaces EIGRP assumes the default
bandwidth on the link instead of the true bandwidth.

Router(config-if)#ip bandwidth-percent eigrp AS percentage

• By default, EIGRP is set to use only up to 50% of the bandwidth of an interface to exchange routing
information.

Router(config-router)#no auto-summary
• To disable automatic summarization.
• EIGRP automatically summarizes routes at the classful boundary

Router(config-if)#ip summary-address eigrp autonomous-system-number ip-address mask administrative-

distance
• Summary route is sourced from Null0, and not an actual interface
A Null0 route is created in the routing table whenever EIGRP includes subnetted routes and with the default
no auto-summary command. It is a type of discard route.
Bandwidth and Frame Relay: The links that have the same configured CIR are presented as a single
subinterface with a bandwidth reflecting the aggregate CIR of all the circuits.

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