Chapter 3 - EIGRP

CCNA 3 version 3.0

Rick Graziani
Cabrillo College
Note to instructors

• If you have downloaded this presentation from the Cisco Networking

Academy Community FTP Center, this may not be my latest version of
this PowerPoint.
• For the latest PowerPoints for all my CCNA, CCNP, and Wireless
classes, please go to my web site:
http://www.cabrillo.edu/~rgraziani/
• The username is cisco and the password is perlman for all of
my materials.
• If you have any questions on any of my materials or the curriculum,
please feel free to email me at graziani@cabrillo.edu (I really don’t
mind helping.) Also, if you run across any typos or errors in my
presentations, please let me know.
• I will add “(Updated – date)” next to each presentation on my web site
that has been updated since these have been uploaded to the FTP
center.
Thanks! Rick
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 2
Note

• Most of this information is taken from my CCNP 1

presentation on EIGRP.
• I have decided to use this presentation instead of the
information in the CCNA 3 curriculum as I find the the
information in the curriculum not as complete as it should
be and arranged differently than I like to approach this
topic.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 3

Overview

Note: I have added additional information and

slides to this presentation which is not part of
the curriculum. This was done to better explain
many of the EIGRP operations and
technologies.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 4

EIGRP

• “Enhanced” Interior Gateway Routing Protocol

• Based on IGRP and developed to allow easy transition from IGRP to
EIGRP. (“Like IGRP+”)
• Cisco proprietary, released in 1994
• EIGRP is an advanced distance-vector routing protocol that relies on
features commonly associated with link-state protocols. (sometimes
called a hybrid routing protocol).
protocol
• Note: The Hybrid term sometimes misleads people into thinking
EIGRP has the topology benefits of a link state routing protocol. It
does not. EIGRP is a distance vector routing protocol and suffers from
all of the same disadvantages of any other distance vector routing
protocol, i.e. routing loops.
• Note: “Often described as a hybrid routing protocol offering the best of
distance-vector and link-state algorithms.” - I would say “features of
distance-vector and link-state” not necessarily “the best.”

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

 IGRP and EIGRP: A migration path

IGRP EIGRP

Classful Routing Protocol Classless Routing Protocol

• VLSM, CIDR

bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth kbps) bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth kbps) * 256

delay = delay/10 delay = (delay/10) * 256
24 bit metric for bandwidth and delay 32 bit metric for bandwidth and delay
Maximum Hop Count = 255 Maximum Hop Count = 224

No differentiation between internal and Outside routes (redistributed) are tagged as

external routes. external routes.

Automatic redistribution between IGRP and EIGRP as long as “AS” numbers are the same.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

Metric Calculation (Review)

– k1 for bandwidth
– k2 for load
– k3 for delay
– k4 and k5 for Reliability
EIGRP
Router(config-router)# metric
bandwidth is in kbps weights tos k1 k2 k3 k4 k5
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
 Displaying Interface Values

Router> show interface s0/0

Serial0/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial Bandwidth Delay
Description: Out to VERIO
Internet address is 207.21.113.186/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
Encapsulation PPP, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted> Reliability Load

shows reliability as a fraction of 255, for shows load as a fraction of 255, for
example (higher is better): example (lower is better):
rely 190/255 (or 74% reliability) load 10/255 (or 3% loaded link)
rely 234/255 (or 92% reliability) load 40/255 (or 16% loaded link)
rely 255/255 (or 100% reliability) load 255/255 (or 100% loaded link)

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

Displaying Interface Values

Router> show interface s0/0

Serial0/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial Bandwidth Delay
Description: Out to VERIO
Internet address is 207.21.113.186/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
Encapsulation PPP, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted> Reliability Load

Routing Table Metric

• Default: Slowest of bandwidth plus the sum of the delays of
all outgoing interfaces from “this router” to the destination
network.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
 EIGRP Metrics
Values displayed in show interface
commands and sent in routing updates.
Bandwidth BWEIGRP DLYEIGRP
Media K= kilobits 10,000,000/Bandwidth Delay Delay/10
*256
*256
100M ATM 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
Fast Ethernet 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
FDDI 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
HSSI 45,045K 56,832 20,000 S 512,000
16M Token Ring 16,000K 160,000 630 S 16,128
Ethernet 10,000K 256,000 1,000 S 25,600
T1 (Serial 1,544K 1,657,856 20,000 S 512,000
Default)
512K 512K 4,999,936 20,000 S 512,000
DS0 64K 40,000,000 20,000 S 512,000
56K 56K 45,714,176 20,000 S 512,000

BWEIGRP and DLYEIGRP display values as sent in EIGRP updates and used in
calculating the EIGRP metric. Calculated values (cumulative) displayed in
routing table (show ip route).
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 10
SanJose2#show ip route
D 192.168.72.0/24 [90/2172416]
via 192.168.64.6, 00:28:26, Serial0

A Closer Look at the Routing Table

Metrics
The Routing Table
How does SanJose2 calculate the cost for this route?

SanJose2#show ip route Administrative Distance / Metric

D 192.168.72.0/24 [90/2172416]
via 192.168.64.6, 00:28:26, Serial0
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
Displaying Interface Values

Westasman> show interface fa0/0

Ethernet0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is Lance, address is 0010.7b3a.cf84 (bia 0010.7b3a.cf84)
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 100000 Kbit, DLY 100 usec,
rely 255/255, load 1/255
<output omitted>

SanJose2> show interface s0/0

Serial0/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial
Description: Out to Westasman
Internet address is 192.168.64.5/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
<output omitted>

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

 Determining the costs
Bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth kbps) * 256
Delay =
FastEthernet 2,560
= (10,000,000/100,000) * 256 Fa0/0 192.168.72.1/24

= 25,600 Bandwidth =
Westasman
25,600
S0/0 192.168.64.2/30 S0/1 192.168.64.6/30
T1
= (10,000,000/1544) * 256 Delay =
512,000
= 1,657,856
S0/0 192.168.64.1/30 S0/0 192.168.64.5/30
Fa0/0 192.168.1.2/24 Bandwidth =
SanJose1
1,657,856
SanJose2

Fa0/0 192.168.1.1/24

EIGRP
AS 100
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
 Determining the costs
Delay = (delay/10) * 256
Delay =
FastEthernet 2,560
= (100/10) * 256 Fa0/0 192.168.72.1/24

= 2,560 Bandwidth =
Westasman
25,600
S0/0 192.168.64.2/30 S0/1 192.168.64.6/30
T1
= (20,000/10) * 256 Delay =
512,000
= 512,000
S0/0 192.168.64.1/30 S0/0 192.168.64.5/30
Fa0/0 192.168.1.2/24 Bandwidth =
SanJose1
1,657,856
SanJose2

Fa0/0 192.168.1.1/24

EIGRP
AS 100
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
 Determining the costs
What is the cost (metric) for 192.168.72.0/24 from SanJose2?
Delay =
Cost: Slowest bandwidth
2,560
+ sum of delays Fa0/0 192.168.72.1/24
1,657,856 Bandwidth =
512,000 Westasman
25,600
2,560 S0/0 192.168.64.2/30 S0/1 192.168.64.6/30
--------------
2,172,416
The cost! Delay =
512,000

S0/0 192.168.64.1/30 S0/0 192.168.64.5/30

Fa0/0 192.168.1.2/24 Bandwidth =
SanJose1
1,657,856
SanJose2

Fa0/0 192.168.1.1/24 Slowest!

bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth kbps) * 256

delay = (delay/10) * 256 EIGRP

AS 100
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
The Routing Table

SanJose2#show ip route Administrative Distance / Metric

D 192.168.72.0/24 [90/2172416]
via 192.168.64.6, 00:28:26, Serial0
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu
EIGRP and IGRP compatibility

• Automatic redistribution occurs when the same AS number is used for

EIGRP and IGRP.
• EIGRP scales the IGRP metric by a factor of 256.
• IGRP reduces the metric by a factor of 256.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 18
 EIGRP and IGRP compatibility

External

External

10,476 = 6,476(BW)+2,000(DLY)+2,000(DLY)
IGRP Metrics! (Does not multiply by 256.

• EIGRP will tag routes learned from IGRP, or any outside source, as
external because they did not originate from EIGRP routers.
• IGRP cannot differentiate between internal and external routes.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 19
 Features of EIGRP

• Classless Routing Protocol (VLSM, CIDR)

• Faster convergence times and improved scalability
• Multiprotocol support: TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, Appletalk
– There is no IPX/SPX or Appletalk in CCNA or CCNP
• Rapid Convergence and Better handling of routing loops – (DUAL) (coming)
• Efficient Use of Bandwidth
– Partial, bounded updates: Incremental updates only to the routers that need
them.
– Minimal bandwidth consumption: Uses Hello packets and EIGRP packets
by default use no more that 50% of link’s bandwidth EIGRP packets.
• PDM (Protocol Dependent Module)
– Keeps EIGRP is modular
– Different PDMs can be added to EIGRP as new routed protocols are
enhanced or developed: IPv4, IPv6, IPX, and AppleTalk
• Unequal-cost load balancing same as IGRP (unlike OSPF)

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

EIGRP Terminology
• Neighbor table – Each EIGRP router maintains a neighbor table that
lists adjacent routers. This table is comparable to the adjacency
database used by OSPF. There is a neighbor table for each protocol
that EIGRP supports.
• Topology table – Every EIGRP router maintains a topology table for
each configured network protocol. This table includes route entries for
all destinations that the router has learned. All learned routes to a
destination are maintained in the topology table.
• Routing table – EIGRP chooses the best routes to a destination from
the topology table and places these routes in the routing table. Each
EIGRP router maintains a routing table for each network protocol.
• Successor – A successor is a route selected as the primary route to
use to reach a destination. Successors are the entries kept in the
routing table. Multiple successors for a destination can be retained in
the routing table.
• Feasible successor – A feasible successor is a backup route. These
routes are selected at the same time the successors are identified, but
are kept in the topology table. Multiple feasible successors for a
destination can be retained in the topology table.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 21
 Neighbor Table

• Each EIGRP router maintains a neighbor table that lists adjacent

routers.
• This table is comparable to the adjacency database used by OSPF.
• There is a neighbor table for each protocol that EIGRP supports
• Whenever a new neighbor is discovered, the address of that neighbor
and the interface used to reach it are recorded in a new neighbor table
entry.
RouterC#show ip eigrp neighbors
IP-EIGRP neighbors for process 44
H Address Interface Hold Uptime SRTT RTO Q Seq
(sec) (ms) Cnt Num
0 192.168.0.1 Se0 11 00:03:09 1138 5000 0 6
1 192.168.1.2 Et0 12 00:34:46 4 200 0 4

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 22

 Neighbor Table

RouterC#show ip eigrp neighbors

IP-EIGRP neighbors for process 44
H Address Interface Hold Uptime SRTT RTO Q Seq
(sec) (ms) Cnt Num
0 192.168.0.1 Se0 11 00:03:09 1138 5000 0 6
1 192.168.1.2 Et0 12 00:34:46 4 200 0 4

• Neighbor address The network-layer address of the neighbor

router(s).
• Queue count The number of packets waiting in queue to be sent. If
this value is constantly higher than zero, then there may be a
congestion problem at the router. A zero means that there are no
EIGRP packets in the queue.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 23

Neighbor Table

RouterC#show ip eigrp neighbors

IP-EIGRP neighbors for process 44
H Address Interface Hold Uptime SRTT RTO Q Seq
(sec) (ms) Cnt Num
0 192.168.0.1 Se0 11 00:03:09 1138 5000 0 6
1 192.168.1.2 Et0 12 00:34:46 4 200 0 4

• Smooth Round Trip Timer (SRTT) The average time it takes to

send and receive packets from a neighbor.
• This timer is used to determine the retransmit interval (RTO)

• Hold Time The interval to wait without receiving anything from a

neighbor before considering the link unavailable.
• Originally, the expected packet was a hello packet, but in current
Cisco IOS software releases, any EIGRP packets received after
the first hello will reset the timer.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 24

Neighbor Table
• Note that an EIGRP router can maintain multiple neighbor tables, one for each L3
protocol running (for example, IP, AppleTalk).
• A router must run a unique EIGRP process for each routed protocol.
RTX#show ip eigrp neighbors
IP-EIGRP neighbors for process 1
H Address Interface Hold Uptime SRTT RTO Q Seq
(sec) (ms) Cnt Num
1 10.2.0.2 Se1 12 00:27:39 333 1998 0 10
0 10.1.0.1 Se0 14 01:17:14 40 240 0 27
RTX#show ipx eigrp neighbors
IPX EIGRP Neighbors for process 22
H Address Interface Hold Uptime SRTT RTO Q Seq
(sec) (ms) Cnt Num
1 2000.0000.0c76.080c Se1 14 00:04:21 28 200 0 22
0 1000.0000.0c38.6fa2 Se0 14 00:04:24 28 200 0 22

RTX#show appletalk eigrp neighbors

AT/EIGRP Neighbors for process 1, router id 2
H Address Interface Hold Uptime SRTT RTO Q Seq
(sec) (ms) Cnt Num
0 1000.123 Se0 11 00:15:01 8 200 0 7
1 2000.28 Se1 14 00:41:11 11 200 0 9
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 25
Topology Table
• Topology table
– Each EIGRP router maintains a topology table for each configured
network protocol.
– This table includes route entries for all destinations that the router has
learned.
– All learned routes to a destination are maintained in the topology table.
• EIGRP uses its topology table to store all the information it needs to
calculate a set of distances and vectors to all reachable destinations.

More about this table later!

RouterB#show ip eigrp topology
IP-EIGRP Topology Table for process 44
Codes: P - Passive, A - Active, U - Update, Q - Query, R -
Reply, r - Reply status
P 206.202.17.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 2195456
via 206.202.16.1 (2195456/2169856), Ethernet0
P 206.202.18.0/24, 2 successors, FD is 2198016
via 192.168.0.2 (2198016/284160), Serial0
via 206.202.16.1 (2198016/2172416), Ethernet0
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 26
Topology Table – Extra Information

• Not only does the topology table track information regarding route states, but it
can also record special information for external routes, including the
administrator tag.
• EIGRP classifies routes as either internal or external.
• EIGRP uses a process called route tagging to add special tags to each route.
• These tags identify a route as internal or external, and may include other
information as well.

All external routes are included in the topology table, and are tagged with the
following information:
• The identification number (router ID) of the EIGRP router that redistributed the
route into the EIGRP network
– The EIGRP router ID is normally selected in the same manner as Open
Shortest Path First (OSPF)
– Can also use: eigrp router-id <router-id>
• The AS number of the destination
• The protocol used in that external network
• The cost or metric received from that external protocol
• The configurable administrator tag
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 27
Topology Table – Explained Soon!

RTX#sh ip eigrp top 204.100.50.0

IP-EIGRP topology entry for 204.100.50.0/24
State is Passive, Query origin flag is 1, 1 Successor(s), FD
is 2297856
Routing Descriptor Blocks: FD/RD
10.1.0.1 (Serial0), from 10.1.0.1, Send flag is 0x0
Composite metric is (2297856/128256), Route is External
Vector metric:
Minimum bandwidth is 1544 Kbit
Total delay is 25000 microseconds
Reliability is 255/255
Load is 1/255
Minimum MTU is 1500
Hop count is 1
External data:
Originating router is 192.168.1.1
AS number of route is 0
External protocol is Connected, external metric is 0
Administrator tag is 0 (0x00000000)

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 28

Topology Table

Much more on about this

table and scenario later
after we discuss a few
more terms.

SanJose2#show ip eigrp topology all-links

P 192.168.72.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 93
via 192.168.64.6 (2172416/28160), Serial0
via 192.168.1.1 (2174976/2172416), FastEthernet0
P 192.168.64.0/30, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 91
via 192.168.1.1 (2172416/2169856), FastEthernet0
via 192.168.64.6 (2681856/2169856), Serial0
P 192.168.64.4/30, 1 successors, FD is 2169856, serno 72
via Connected, Serial0
P 192.168.1.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 28160, serno 1
via Connected, FastEthernet0

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 29

Topology Table

Question: Since EIGRP has a topology table, does this make it a link-
state routing protocol?

Answer:
• No, the information in the topology table is not in the form of LSAs
describing the complete network topology.
• The EIGRP topology table contains information about paths through
the router’s adjacent neighbors.
• Also, EIGRP does not perform shortest-path calculation by calculating
the shortest-path tree, but instead uses the DUAL algorithm.

Alex Zinin, Cisco IP Routing

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 30

 IP Routing Table

• EIGRP chooses the best routes (that is, successor) to a destination from the
topology table and places these routes in the routing table.
• Each EIGRP router maintains a topology table for each network protocol.
• EIGRP displays both internal EIGRP routes and external EIGRP routes.

RouterB#show ip route
Codes: C - connected, S - static, I - IGRP, R - RIP, M - mobile, B - BGP
D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area
E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2, E - EGP
i - IS-IS, L1 - IS-IS level-1, L2 - IS-IS level-2, * - candidate
default U - per-user static route
Gateway of last resort is not set
C 10.1.1.0 is directly connected, Serial0
D 172.16.0.0 [90/2681856] via 10.1.1.0, Serial0
D EX 192.168.1.0 [170/2681856] via 10.1.1.1, 00:00:04, Serial0

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 31

 IP Routing Table

• The routing table contains the routes installed by DUAL as the best loop-free
paths to a given destination.
• EIGRP will maintain up to four routes per destination.
• These routes can be of equal, or unequal cost (if using the variance
command). (later)
RouterB#show ip route
Codes: C - connected, S - static, I - IGRP, R - RIP, M - mobile, B - BGP
D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area
E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2, E - EGP
i - IS-IS, L1 - IS-IS level-1, L2 - IS-IS level-2, * - candidate
default U - per-user static route
Gateway of last resort is not set
C 10.1.1.0 is directly connected, Serial0
D 172.16.0.0 [90/2681856] via 10.1.1.0, Serial0
D EX 192.168.1.0 [170/2681856] via 10.1.1.1, 00:00:04, Serial0

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 32

 Showing the cost in the Routing Table

Routing Table
SanJose2#show ip route
D 192.168.72.0/24 [90/2172416]
via 192.168.64.6, 00:28:26, Serial0
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 33
Routing Tables
RTX#show ip route
Gateway of last resort is 0.0.0.0 to network 0.0.0.0
D 192.168.5.0/24 [90/3219456] via 10.2.0.2, 00:12:19, Serial1
D 192.168.1.0/24 [90/2195456] via 10.1.0.1, 00:12:19, Serial0
C 192.168.2.0/24 is directly connected, Ethernet0
D 192.168.3.0/24 [90/2195456] via 10.2.0.2, 00:12:19, Serial1

RTX#show ipx route

11 Total IPX routes. Up to 1 parallel paths and 16 hops allowed.
No default route known.
C 1000 (HDLC), Se0
E 3000 [2681856/0] via 2000.0000.0c76.080c, age 00:10:49, 1u, Se1
E 4000 [276864000/2] via 2000.0000.0c76.080c, age 00:10:41, 1u, Se1

RTX#show appletalk route

Codes: R - RTMP derived, E - EIGRP derived, C - connected, A - AURP
S - static P - proxy
6 routes in internet
The first zone listed for each entry is its default (primary) zone.
E Net 100-101 [1/G] via 1000.123, 1400 sec, Serial0, zone san fran
E Net 300-301 [1/G] via 2000.28, 3016 sec, Serial1, zone san jose

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 34

EIGRP Technologies

Four key technologies set EIGRP apart from IGRP

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 35

 Establishing Adjacencies with Neighbors
Extra
• EIGRP routers establish adjacencies with neighbor routers by using small
hello packets.
• Hellos are sent every 5 seconds by default
• K values must be the same between neighbors.
• An EIGRP router assumes that, as long as it is receiving hello packets from
known neighbors, those neighbors (and their routes) remain viable.
• Hold time tells the router how long it should consider the neighbor alive if it
has not received any EIGRP packets (Hello, EIGRP updates, etc.)
• Hold time is normally three times the configured Hello interval.
• Both the Hello and Hold time intervals are configurable on a per interface
basis, and do not have to match neighbor.
• EIGRP routers exchange routing information the same way as other distance
vector routing protocols, but do not send periodic updates.
• EIGRP updates are only sent when a network is added or removed from the
topology database, when the successor for a given network changes, or
when the locally used metric is updated. (later)
• EIGRP, like any other distance-vector routing protocol uses split-horizon.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 36
Hello Intervals and Default Hold Times

• Hello Time The interval of Hello Packets

• Hold Time The interval to wait without receiving anything from a
neighbor before considering the link unavailable.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 37

Establishing Adjacencies with Neighbors

By forming adjacencies, EIGRP routers do the following:

• Dynamically learn of new routes that join their network
• Identify routers that become either unreachable or inoperable
• Rediscover routers that had previously been unreachable
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 38
Reliable Transport Protocol

• EIGRP is protocol-independent; that is, it doesn’t rely on TCP/IP to

exchange routing information the way RIP, IGRP, and OSPF do.
• To stay independent of IP, EIGRP uses the transport-layer protocol to
guarantee delivery of routing information: RTP.
• RTP supports reliable and unreliable delivery
• RTP supports unicasting and multicasting
• Initial delivery of EIGRP messages are done using multicast packets, that is
data is sent to all neighbors on a segment, and every neighbor is expected to
acknowledge it with a unicast Hello packet.
• After adjacency has been formed and added to neighbor table, routers
exchange routing information which is stored in the topology table. (later)
• RTP is used for EIGRP queries, updates and replies
• RTP is not used for EIGRP Hello’s and Ack’s
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 39
DUAL FSM

• The centerpiece of EIGRP is DUAL, the EIGRP route-

calculation engine.
– The full name of this technology is DUAL finite state
machine (FSM).
– This engine contains all the logic used to calculate and
compare routes in an EIGRP network.

What is FSM?
• An FSM is an abstract machine, not a mechanical device with
moving parts.
• FSMs define a set of possible states something can go through,
what events causes those states, and what events result from
those states.
• Designers use FSMs to describe how a device, computer
program, or routing algorithm will react to a set of input events.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 40

FSM Example

HUNGRY
NO FOOD (START)
FOR 5
HOURS FOOD IS
INEDIBLE
GET FOOD

EAT MORE NOT ENOUGH

FOOD FULL EATING FOOD

EAT ENOUGH
FOOD

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 41

DUAL FSM – Explained in a moment…
• DUAL selects alternate routes quickly by using the information in the
EIGRP tables.
• If a link goes down, DUAL looks for a feasible successor in its neighbor
and topology tables.
• A successor is a neighboring router that is currently being used for
packet forwarding, provides the least-cost route to the destination, and
is not part of a routing loop.
• Feasible successors provide the next lowest-cost path without
introducing routing loops.
– Feasible successor routes can be used in case the existing route
fails; packets to the destination network are immediately forwarded
to the feasible successor, which at that point, is promoted to the
status of successor.
• Selects a best loop-free path to a destination, the next hop being
known as the successor.
• All other routers to the same destination, that also meet the feasible
condition, meaning they are also loop-free (later), become feasible
successors, or back-up routes.
•Rick debug eigrp fsm
Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 42
Protocol-Dependent Modules (PDMs)

• EIGRP is modular
• Different PDMs can be added to EIGRP as new routed protocols are
enhanced or developed:
– IPv4, IPv6, IPX, and AppleTalk

Each PDM is responsible for all functions related to its specific routed
protocol.
• The IP-EIGRP module is responsible for the following:
– Sending and receiving EIGRP packets that bear IP data
– Notifying DUAL of new IP routing information that is received
– Maintaining the results of DUAL’s routing decisions in the IP
routing table
– Redistributing routing information that was learned by other IP-
capable routing protocols

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 43

Protocol-Dependent Modules (PDMs)

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 44

EIGRP Terminology and Operations

• EIGRP routers keep route and topology information readily

available in RAM so that they can react quickly to changes.

• Like OSPF, EIGRP keeps this information in several tables, or

databases.

– Neighbor table
– Topology table
– Routing table
– Successor
– Feasible Successor

• We will first have an overview of all of the terminology and then see
how it works and what it all means!

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 45

EIGRP Terminology and Operations
• Successor – Current Route
– A successor is a route selected as the primary route to
use to reach a destination.
– Successors are the entries kept in the routing table.

• Feasible Successor - A backup route

– A feasible successor is a backup route.
– These routes are selected at the same time the
successors are identified, but they are kept in the
topology table.
– Multiple feasible successors for a destination can be
retained in the topology table.

Let’s see how this works!

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 46

Successors and Feasible Successors

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 47

Successors and Feasible Successors

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 48

Successors and Feasible Successors

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 49

 Successors and Feasible Successors
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 than the
current feasible distance (FD). Feasible successor is one who meets the feasible
condition (FC).

Your route (metric) to the network (RD to me) must be LESS than my current route
(my total metric) to that same network. If your route (metric) to the network (RD to
me) is LESS than my current route (my total metric), I will include you as a
FEASIBLE SUCCESSOR.
If your route (metric) to the network (RD to me) is MORE than my current route (my
total metric), I will NOT include you as a FEASIBLE SUCCESSOR.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 50
Successors and Feasible Successors

172.30.1.0

172.30.1.0

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 51

 Successors and Feasible Successors
Feasible Successor, FC: RD30 < FD31

172.30.1.0

FD to 172.30.1.0 is
31 via Router Y

Current Successor = 31 RTZ is NOT Feasible

RD of RTY= 21 Successor, FC:
RD220 not< FD31
Advertised or
Destination Feasible Dist. Reported. Dist. Neighbor
172.30.1.0 40 30 X In Topology Table
172.30.1.0 31 21 Y In Routing Table
172.30.1.0 230 220 Z Not in Topology Table
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 52
 Successors and Feasible Successors
Feasible Successor, FC: RD30 < FD31

172.30.1.0

FD to 172.30.1.0 is
31 via Router Y

Current Successor = 31 RTZ is NOT Feasible

RD of RTY= 21 Successor, FC:
RD220 not< FD31

• RTY is successor with a computed cost of 31.

• “31” is the Feasible Distance (FD).
• RTX is a feasible successor because its RD is less than or equal to the FD.
- RTX’s RD (30) is less than the FD (31).
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 53
 Example of a Loop, What if…

RTZ FD = 220 172.30.1.0

RTZ to RTA
is 189
RTA to
172.30.1.0 is
31

RTZ has a Reported Distance to

RTA of 220. Since its Reported
Distance is greater than RTA’s
Cost=40 Cost=40
own Feasibile Distance of 31,
RTA can’t trust that the route
Cost=9 RTZ takes is somehow back
through itself.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 54
What if the successor fails?

Feasible Successor exists:

• If current successor route fails, feasible successor becomes the
current successor, i.e. the current route.
• Routing of packets continue with little delay.

No Feasible Successor exists:

• This may be because the Reported Distance is greater than the
Feasible Distance.
• Before this route can be installed, it must be placed in the
active state and recomputed. (later)
• Routing of packets continue but with more of a delay.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 55

 Successors and Feasible Successors
New Successor

172.30.1.0

FD to 172.30.1.0 is
X
40 via Router X

RTZ is NOT Feasible

Current Successor = 40
RD of RTX= 30 Successor, FC:
RD220 not< FD31
• Since RTX is the feasible successor, and becomes the successor.
• RTX is immediately installed from the topology table into the routing table (no recomputation
of DUAL).
• RTA’s new FD via RTX is 40.
• RTZ is not a feasible successor, because it’s RD (220) is still greater than the new FD (40)
for 172.30.1.0/24.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 56
 Successors and Feasible Successors

X 172.30.1.0

FD to 172.30.1.0 is
X
40 via Router X
?
RTZ is NOT Feasible
Current Successor = 40
RD of RTX= 30 Successor, FC:
RD220 not< FD40
• RTZ is not a feasible successor.
• It’s RD (220) is greater than the previous FD (40) for 172.30.1.0/24.
• Before this route can be installed, the route to net 24 must be placed in the
active state and recomputed.
• Coming soon!
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 57
 Successors and Feasible Successors

X 172.30.1.0

FD to 172.30.1.0 is
X
230 via Router Z

RTZ is NOT Feasible

Current Successor = 230
RD of RTZ= 220 Successor, FC:
RD220 not< FD40

• After a a series of EIGRP Queries and Replies (coming), and a recomputation

of DUAL, RTZ becomes the successor.
• There is nothing better to prohibit it from being the successor.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 58

One last reminder….
Topology table
• Each EIGRP router maintains a topology table for each configured
network protocol.
• This table includes route entries for all destinations that the router has
learned. All learned routes to a destination are maintained in the
topology table.

show ip eigrp topology

• (Feasible Distance/Reported Distance)
• 1 successor (route) if FDs are different
– smaller FD metric, that route is the the only successor
– larger FD metric, those routes are possible feasible successor
• 2 or more successors (routes) if FDs are the same
– Load balancing happens automatically

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 59

SanJose2#show ip eigrp top all
P 192.168.72.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 93
via 192.168.64.6 (2172416/28160), Serial0
via 192.168.1.1 (2174976/2172416), FastEthernet0
P 192.168.64.0/30, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 91
via 192.168.1.1 (2172416/2169856), FastEthernet0
via 192.168.64.6 (2681856/2169856), Serial0

Understanding the Topology Table

(not in the curriculum)
Understanding the
Topology Table

SanJose2#show ip eigrp top all

P 192.168.72.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 93
via 192.168.64.6 (2172416/28160), Serial0
via 192.168.1.1 (2174976/2172416), FastEthernet0
P 192.168.64.0/30, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 91
via 192.168.1.1 (2172416/2169856), FastEthernet0
via 192.168.64.6 (2681856/2169856), Serial0
P 192.168.64.4/30, 1 successors, FD is 2169856, serno 72
via Connected, Serial0
P 192.168.1.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 28160, serno 1
via Connected, FastEthernet0

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 61

 Understanding the
Topology Table

Feasible Distance/Reported Distance

SanJose2#show ip eigrp top all-links

IP-EIGRP Topology Table for AS(100)/ID(192.168.64.5)
Codes: P - Passive, A - Active, U - Update, Q - Query, R
- Reply,r - Reply status
Feasible distance
P 192.168.72.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 22
successor via 192.168.64.6 (2172416/28160), Serial0
feasible via 192.168.1.1 (2174976/2172416), FastEthernet0
successor
Feasible distance if this router was the successor. Includes the 2,560
delay cost of additional Fast Ethernet link.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 62

SanJose2#show ip eigrp top all-links
IP-EIGRP Topology Table for AS(100)/ID(192.168.64.5)
Codes: P - Passive, A - Active, U - Update, Q - Query, R
- Reply,r - Reply status
Feasible distance
P 192.168.72.0/24, 1 successors, FD is 2172416, serno 22
successor via 192.168.64.6 (2172416/28160), Serial0
feasible
via 192.168.1.1 (2174976/2172416), FastEthernet0
successor

Reported Distance

Reported Distance: This is the distance (cost) reported by the neighboring router, ie.
Westasman and SanJose1.
• Westasman’s Reported Distance is 28,160 = 25,600 (BW) + 2,560 (DLY)
• SanJose1’s Reported Distance is 2,172,416 = 1,657,856 (BW) + 512,000 (DLY) +
2,560 (DLY)
Feasible Successor: Since SJ1’s Reported Distance 2172416 is less than or
equal to the Feasible Distance 2172416, it is included as a Feasible
Successor!
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 63
 Questions

Question: What if there is only one entry in the Topology Table?

Answer: There is only a successor and no feasible successors.
• There are either no other neighbors with a route to this network or the
reported distance of that neighbor is greater than the current feasible
distance. (You will see this in the lab.)

Question: Why does EIGRP use DUAL? I.e. Why doesn’t EIGRP install
routes with an RD greater than its current FD?
Answer: EIGRP is a distance vector routing protocol. It only knows about
distances/routes from what its’ neighbors tell it. The only way EIGRP
can trust that another router’s route is not back through itself, is to make
sure the other router’s distance is equal to or less than its own distance
to that network.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 64

 Example of a Loop, What if…

RTZ FD = 220 172.30.1.0

RTZ to RTA
is 189
RTA to
172.30.1.0 is
31

RTZ has a Reported Distance to

RTA of 220. Since its Reported
Distance is greater than RTA’s
Cost=40 Cost=40
own Feasibile Distance of 31,
RTA can’t trust that the route
Cost=9 RTZ takes is somehow back
through itself.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 65
EIGRP Packet Types

The five EIGRP packet types are:

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 66

 EIGRP Hello Packet

• Used to discover, verify, and rediscover neighbor routers.

• EIGRP routers send hellos at a fixed (and configurable) interval, called
the hello interval.
• The default hello interval depends on the bandwidth of the interface.
• Hello interval 5 seconds, hold time 15 seconds for T1 and faster
• Hello interval 60 seconds, hold time 180 seconds for slower than T1
• On IP networks, EIGRP hello packets are multicast, 224.0.0.10
• If a neighbor is not heard from for the duration of the hold time (three
times hello interval), EIGRP considers that neighbor down, and DUAL
must step in to reevaluate the routing table.
–By default, the hold time is three times the hello interval, but an
administrator can configure both timers as desired.
• Unlike OSPF routers, EIGRP routers do not need to have the same
hello intervals and hold down intervals.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

 Acknowledgement Packet

• Acknowledgement packets, which are “data-less” hello packets, are

used to ensure reliable communication.
• Unlike multicast hellos, acknowledgement packets are unicast.
• Acknowledgements can be made by piggybacking on other kinds of
EIGRP packets, such as reply packets.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

 Update Packet

• Update packets are used when a router discovers a new neighbor.

–An EIGRP sends unicast update packets to that new neighbor so
that it can add to its topology table.
–More than one update packet may be needed to convey all of the
topology information to the newly discovered neighbor.
• EIGRP updates are only sent when:
-A network is added or removed from the topology database
-The successor for a given network changes
-The locally used metric is updated.
• The EIGRP router sends a multicast update packet to all neighbors
alerting them to the change.
• EIGRP routers exchange routing information the same way as other
distance vector routing protocols, but do not send periodic updates.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

 Query and Reply Packets

• EIGRP routers use query packets whenever it needs specific

information from one, or all, of its neighbors.
– A reply packet is used to respond to a query.
• If an EIGRP router loses its successor and cannot find a feasible
successor for a route, DUAL places the route in the active state.
– The router multicasts a query to all neighbors, searching for a
successor to the destination network.
– Neighbors must send replies that either provide information on
successors, or indicate that no successor information is available.
• Queries can be multicast or unicast, while replies are always unicast.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu

Query and Reply Packets
• A router views its feasible successors as neighbors that are downstream, or
closer, to the destination than it is.
• If something goes wrong with the successor, DUAL can quickly identify a
feasible successor from the topology table, and install a new route to the
destination.
• If no feasible successors to the destination exist, DUAL places the route in the
active state.

• Entries in the topology table can be in one of two states: active or passive.
• A passive route is one that is stable and available for use.
• An active route is a route in the process of being recomputed by DUAL.

• Recomputation happens if a route becomes unavailable and DUAL can’t find

any feasible successors.
• Another route may exist, it is just that their Reported Distance was greater than
your Feasible Distance.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 71

 Query and Reply Packets RtrD

RtrB
Queries
Replies
RtrE

RtrA

X
RtrF

RtrC

RtrG

Looking for new route

• If there were no Feasible Successors, the router must ask neighbors for help in hope of
finding a new, loop-free path to the destination.
• Neighbor routers are compelled to reply to this query.
– If a neighbor has a route, it will reply with information about the successor(s).
– If not, the neighbor notifies the sender that it doesn’t have a route to the
destination either.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 72
Return Route or Forward Query
If a feasible successor does not exist:
• 1. The router flags the route as active.
• 2. The router looks for an alternate path by sending out a query packet to all neighbors to
learn if they have a path to the given destination.
– The query packets are multicast out every interface except the one which the dead link
was learned, adhering to the split horizon rule.
• 3. If a neighbor does have a path that does not involve the querying router, or no path at all
to the destination, it unicasts a reply with this information.
– If a neighbor that receives the query is using the querying router as its feasible
successor, then it multicasts its own query packet to its neighbor, which creates a
“ripple effect” through the network until a new path is found or a major network
boundary is met.
• 4. When the query router receives replies, it reacts based on the answer in the reply:
– If the reply included a successor or feasible successor, the information is put into its
topology table, and the querying router waits until all replies are received. It then
recalculates the topology table, and adds the successr(s) to the routing table. The route
returns to a passive state in the topolgy table and routing can continue.
– If none of the replies includes a successor or feasible successor, the querying router
removes the active route from its topology table and routing tables.
• If a neighbor router to which a query is sent does not reply within the active time of 180
seconds, EIGRP tears down the neighbor relationship with the offending router and puts
routes learned from that router into an active state.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 73

Query and Reply Packets

X 172.30.1.0

Queries
Replies

Routes via RTY

X
and RTX Fail!

?
RTZ was previously
NOT a Feasible
Successor, FC: RD220
not< FD31 or FD40, but
now there is no
Sucessor
RTZ replies that it still has a route to 172.30.1.0, while RTX and RTY reply
that they do not.
Current Successor is now RTZ, with a FD of 230 and a RD of RTZ= 220.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 74
 In this scenario…

X
Queries
Replies

All
X
Replies
are
saying
they do
?
not have
a route
RTZ has a Reported Distance to
RTA of 220. Since its Reported
Distance is greater than RTA’s
Cost=89 Cost=99
own Feasibile Distance of 31,
RTA can’t trust that the route
Cost=100 RTZ takes is somehow back
through itself.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 75
 Example from the curriculum…

1 2

3 4

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 76

 Example from the curriculum…

5 6

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 77

Example of debug eigrp fsm
No feasible successor in the topology table. EIGRP domain still finds another route.
SanJose2#debug eigrp fsm
EIGRP FSM Events/Actions debugging is on
SanJose2(config)#inter s 0
SanJose2(config-if)#shut
03:11:44: DUAL: Destination 192.168.72.0/24
03:11:44: DUAL: Find FS for dest 192.168.72.0/24. FD is 2172416, RD is
2172416
03:11:44: DUAL: 192.168.64.6 metric 4294967295/4294967295 not
found Dmin is 4294967295
03:11:44: DUAL: Dest 192.168.72.0/24 entering active state.

Feasible successor is in the topology table. Backup route takes over right away.
Westasman#debug eigrp fsm
02:21:42: DUAL: Find FS for dest 192.168.64.4/30. FD is 2169856, RD is
2169856
02:21:42: DUAL: 0.0.0.0 metric 2169856/0
02:21:42: DUAL: 192.168.64.1 metric 4294967295/4294967295 found
Dmin is 216985

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 78

 Router
Stuck in Active (SIA) C
X
Router
D
Router

Queries
Replies
B
X
Router
A X
X

X
 In some cases, it can take too long for the query to be answered.
 When this happens, the router that issued the query gives up and resets its
neighbor relationship with the router that didn’t answer.
 The most basic situation where this occurs is when it simply takes too long
for a query to reach the other end of the network and a reply to travel back.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 79
Stuck in Active (SIA)

• Typically, SIAs results when a router cannot answer a

query because:
– the router is too busy to answer the query (generally
high cpu utilization)
– the router cannot allocate the memory to process the
query or build the reply packet
– the circuit between the two routers is not good (packet
loss)
– unidirectional links (a link on which traffic can only flow
in one direction due to a failure)

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 80

Troubleshooting (SIA) - FYI

Troubleshooting Steps:
Step 1: find the routes which are consistently being reported as stuck in
active.
– If you are logging console messages, a quick perusal of the log will
indicate which routes are being marked as stuck in active most
often.
Step 2: find out which routers are consistently failing to answer queries (not
always easy).
– Use the show ip eigrp topology active command.
• Any neighbors which have the r beside them are neighbors that
the router is waiting on replies from
• the active timer is how long the route has been active.
• pay particular attention to routes that have replies outstanding
and have been active for 2 to 3 minute
Step 3: find the reason why that router is not receiving or answering queries
– One you have found the router that is consistently not answering
queries, look for problems on the link to this neighbor, memory or
CPU utilization problems with this neighbor, etc.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 81

Configuring EIGRP
Configuring EIGRP for IP networks

Router(config)#router eigrp autonomous-system-number

• This value must match all routers within the internetwork.

Router(config-router)#network network-number
• 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.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 83
Summarizing EIGRP Routes:
no auto-summary

• EIGRP automatically summarizes routes at the classful

boundary, the boundary where the network address ends
as defined by class-based addressing.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 84

Summarizing EIGRP Routes:
no auto-summary

• In the presence of discontiguous subnetworks, automatic

summarization must be disabled for routing to work properly.
• To turn off auto-summarization, use the following command:
Router(config-router)#no auto-summary
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 85
Summarizing EIGRP Routes: Interface
Summarization

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

ip-address mask administrative-distance

RTC(config)#router eigrp 2446

RTC(config-router)#no auto-summary
RTC(config-router)#exit

RTC(config)#interface serial0/0
RTC(config-if)#ip summary-address eigrp 2446 2.1.0.0 255.255.0.0

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 86

Summarizing EIGRP Routes: Interface
Summarization

RTC(config)#interface serial0/0
RTC(config-if)#ip summary-address eigrp 2446 2.1.0.0 255.255.0.0

RTC’s Routing Table:

D 2.1.0.0/16 is a summary, 00:00:22, Null0

• Notice that the summary route is sourced from Null0, and not an actual interface.
• That is because this route is used for advertisement purposes and does not represent a
path that RTC can take to reach that network.
• On RTC, this route has an administrative distance of 5.
• RTD is oblivious to the summarization but accepts the route. It assigns the route the
administrative distance of a "normal" EIGRP route, which is 90, by default

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 87

EIGRP show commands

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 88

EIGRP debug commands

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 89

Few last items not in the curriculum…
EIGRP variance command

Optional Interface Command:

RTA(config-router)# variance number

IGRP and EIGRP also support unequal cost path load

balancing, which is known as variance.
The variance command instructs the router to include routes
with a metric less than or equal to n times the minimum metric
route for that destination, where n is the number specified by
the variance command.
Note: If a path isn't a feasible successor, then it isn't used in
load balancing.

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 91

EIGRP variance command

Let's look at an example, there are three ways to get to Network X, from
Router E: (Note: metrics incorrectly not including outgoing interface to
Net X.)
 E-B-A with a metric of 30
 E-C-A with a metric of 20 <<<-- Minimum Metric
 E-D-A with a metric of 45
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 92
EIGRP variance command

router eigrp 1
network x.x.x.x
variance 2
variance 2
• This increases the minimum metric to 40 (2 * 20 = 40).
• EIGRP includes all the routes that have a metric less than or equal
to 40, and are feasible successors.
• In the above configuration, EIGRP now uses two paths to get to
Network X, E-C-A and E-B-A, because both paths have a metric
under 40.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 93
EIGRP variance command

router eigrp 1
network x.x.x.x
variance 2

Two unequal-cost paths:

 E-B-A with a metric of 30 <<<-- Also below 2*20
 E-C-A with a metric of 20 <<<-- Minimum Metric
 E-D-A with a metric of 45

EIGRP doesn't use path E-D-A because it has a metric of 45, and it's not a feasible
successor. Can have up to 6 unequal cost paths.
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 94
EIGRP Traffic Share
• To control how traffic is distributed among routes when there are
multiple routes for the same destination network that have different
costs, use the traffic-share router configuration command.
• To disable this function, use the no form of the command.

traffic-share {balanced | min}

no traffic share {balanced | min}

balanced
• Distributes traffic proportionately to the ratios of the metrics.
min
• Uses routes that have minimum costs

• For more information:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk365/tk207/technologies_tech_note
09186a008009437d.shtml

Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 95

 Redistribution b/t EIGRP & IGRP

Same AS numbers Different AS numbers

Router Two Router Two
router eigrp 2000 router eigrp 2000
network 172.16.1.0 redistribute igrp 1000
! network 172.16.1.0
router igrp 2000 !
network 10.0.0.0 router igrp 1000
redistribute eigrp 2000
(automatic redistribution) network 10.0.0.0

So what is the difference? We’ll see later when discussing

Redistribution.

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EIGRP and Default Routes (Review)

There are three ways to inject a default route into

EIGRP:
• Redistribute a static route
• IP default-network
• Summarize to 0.0.0.0/0

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EIGRP and Default Routes (Review)

Redistribute a static route

• Use the first method when you want to draw all traffic to
unknown destinations to a default route at the core of the
network.
• This method is effective for advertising connections to the
Internet, but will redistribute all static routes into EIGRP.
• For example:

Gateway Router
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 x.x.x.x (next hop)
!
router eigrp 100
redistribute static
<text omitted>

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EIGRP and Default Routes (Review)

Ip default-network
• Propagates a default route to other routers, but needs to have a
route or default route out once the packets arrive.

Gateway Router
router igrp 24
<text omitted>
network 207.21.20.0
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 207.21.20.1
ip default-network 207.21.20.0

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EIGRP and Default Routes (Review)

Extra: Summarize to 0.0.0.0/0

• Summarizing to a default route is effective only when you want
to provide remote sites with a default route.
• Since summaries are configured per interface, you don't need to
worry about using distribute-lists or other mechanisms to
prevent the default route from being propagated toward the core
of your network.

router eigrp 100

network 10.0.0.0
!
interface serial 0
ip address 10.1.1.1
ip summary-address eigrp 100 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

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 OSPF versus EIGRP
OSPF EIGRP

Supports CIDR and VLSM, rapid Supports CIDR and VLSM, rapid
convergence, partial updates, neighbor convergence, partial updates, neighbor
discovery discovery
Administrator can define route Automatic route-summarization and user-
summarization defined route summaries

Open standard; multivendor support Proprietary; Cisco routers only

Scalable; administratively defined Scalable, but no hierarchical design

“areas” provide manageable hierarchy

Difficult to implement Easy to implement

Equal-cost load balancing Unequal-cost load balancing

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EIGRP and IGRP Metric Review
Metric Calculation
The metrics used by EIGRP in making routing decisions are (lower the metric the
better):
• bandwidth
• delay
• load
• reliability

By default, EIGRP uses only:

• Bandwidth
• Delay

Analogies:
Think of bandwidth as the width of the pipe
and
delay as the length of the pipe.

• Bandwidth is a the carrying capacity

• Delay is the end-to-end travel time.
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Metric Calculation
If these are the default:
• bandwidth (default)
• delay (default)

When are these used?

• load
• reliability

Only when configured by the network administrator to do so!

EIGRP also tracks (but does not use in its metric calculation):
• MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit)
• Hop Count

Use show interface command to view the metrics used on a specific interface
that is routing EIGRP.
• These are the raw values.
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Metric Calculation

Router> show interfaces s1/0

Serial1/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial bandwidth delay
Description: Out to VERIO
Internet address is 207.21.113.186/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
Encapsulation PPP, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted>
reliability load

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Metric Calculation
Bandwidth
• Expressed in kilobits (show interface)
• This is a static number and used for metric calculations only.
• Does not necessarily reflect the actual bandwidth of the link.
• It is an information parameter only.
• You cannot adjust the actual bandwidth on an interface with this command.
• Use the show interface command to display the raw value

The default values:

• Default bandwidth of a Cisco interface depends on the type of interface.

• Default bandwidth of a Cisco serial interface is 1544 kilobits or 1,544,000

bps (T1), whether that interface is attached to a T1 line (1.544 Mbps) or a 56K
line.

• IGRP/EIGRP metric uses the slowest bandwidth of all of the outbound

interfaces to the destination network.
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Metric Calculation

Changing the bandwidth informational parameter:

The bandwidth can be changed using:

Router(config-if)# bandwidth kilobits

To restore the default value:

Router(config-if)# no bandwidth

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Metric Calculation
Delay
• Like bandwidth, delay it is a static number.
• Expressed in microseconds, millionths of a second
• (Uses the Greek letter mu with an S, S, NOT “ms” which is millisecond or
thousandths of a second)
• Use the show interface command to display the raw value
• It is an information parameter only.

The default values:

• The default delay value of a Cisco interface depends upon the type of
interface.

• Default delay of a Cisco serial interface is 20,000 microseconds, that of a T1

line.

• IGRP/EIGRP metric uses the sum of all of the delays of all of the outbound
interfaces to the destination network.
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Metric Calculation

Changing the delay informational parameter:

The delay can be changed using:
Router(config-if)# delay tens-of- S
(microseconds)

Example of changing the delay on a serial interface to 30,000

microseconds:
Router(config-if)# delay 3000

To restore the 20,000 microsecond default value:

Router(config-if)# no delay

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Metric Calculation
IGRP
• bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth)
• delay = delay/10

EIGRP
• bandwidth = (10,000,000/bandwidth) * 256
• delay = (delay/10) * 256
Note: The reference-bandwidth
For both IGRP and EIGRP: 107, (10,000,000/bandwidth kbps), whereas
with OSPF it was 108 (100,000,000/bandwidth)

The difference:
• IGRP metric is 24 bits long
• EIGRP metric is 32 bits long
• EIGRP metric is 256 times greater for the same route
• EIGRP allows for finer comparison of potential routes

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 EIGRP Metrics
Values displayed in show interface
commands and sent in routing updates.
Bandwidth BWEIGRP DLYEIGRP
Media K= kilobits 10,000,000/Bandwidth Delay Delay/10
*256
*256
100M ATM 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
Fast Ethernet 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
FDDI 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
HSSI 45,045K 56,832 20,000 S 512,000
16M Token Ring 16,000K 160,000 630 S 16,128
Ethernet 10,000K 256,000 1,000 S 25,600
T1 (Serial 1,544K 1,657,856 20,000 S 512,000
Default)
512K 512K 4,999,936 20,000 S 512,000
DS0 64K 40,000,000 20,000 S 512,000
56K 56K 45,714,176 20,000 S 512,000

BWEIGRP and DLYEIGRP display values as sent in EIGRP updates and used in
calculating the EIGRP metric. Calculated values (cumulative) displayed in
routing table (show ip route).
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 IGRP Metrics
Values displayed in show interface
commands and sent in routing updates.

Bandwidth BWIGRP DLYIGRP

Media K= kilobits 10,000,000/Bandwidth Delay Delay/10
100M ATM 100,000K 100 100 S 10
Fast Ethernet 100,000K 100 100 S 10
FDDI 100,000 100 100 S 10
HSSI 45,045K 222 20,000 S 2,000
16M Token Ring 16,000K 625 630 S 63
Ethernet 10,000K 1,000 1,000 S 100
T1 (Serial Default) 1,544K 6,476 20,000 S 2,000
512K 512K 19,531 20,000 S 2,000
DS0 64K 156,250 20,000 S 2,000
56K 56K 178,571 20,000 S 2,000

BWIGRP and DLYIGRP display values as sent in IGRP updates and used in calculating
the IGRP metric. Calculated values (cumulative) displayed in routing table
(show ip route). EIGRP values are 256 times greater.
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Metric Calculation

Router> show interfaces s1/0

Serial1/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial bandwidth delay
Description: Out to VERIO
Internet address is 207.21.113.186/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
Encapsulation PPP, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted>
reliability load

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 Bandwidth BWIGRP DLYIGRP
IGRP Media K= kilobits 10,000,000/Bandwidth Delay Delay/10
100M ATM 100,000K 100 100 S 10
Fast Ethernet 100,000K 100 100 S 10
FDDI 100,000 100 100 S 10
HSSI 45,045K 222 20,000 S 2,000
16M Token Ring 16,000K 625 630 S 63
Ethernet 10,000K 1,000 1,000 S 100
T1 (Serial Default) 1,544K 6,476 20,000 S 2,000
512K 512K 19,531 20,000 S 2,000
Viva la DS0 64K 156,250 20,000 S 2,000
56K 56K 178,571 20,000 S 2,000
difference!
BWIGRP and DLYIGRP display values as sent in IGRP updates and used in calculating
the IGRP metric.
Bandwidth BWEIGRP DLYEIGRP
EIGRP Media K= kilobits 10,000,000/Bandwidth Delay Delay/10
*256
*256
100M ATM 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
Fast Ethernet 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
FDDI 100,000K 25,600 100 S 2,560
Calculated values HSSI 45,045K 56,832 20,000 S 512,000
(cumulative) displayed 16M Token Ring 16,000K 160,000 630 S 16,128
Ethernet 10,000K 256,000 1,000 S 25,600
in routing table (show T1 (Serial 1,544K 1,657,856 20,000 S 512,000
ip route). Default)
512K 512K 4,999,936 20,000 S 512,000
DS0 64K 40,000,000 20,000 S 512,000
EIGRP values are 256 56K 56K 45,714,176 20,000 S 512,000
times greater.
BWEIGRP and DLYEIGRP display values as sent in EIGRP updates and used in
calculating the EIGRP metric.
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Reliability and Load

The metrics used by EIGRP in making routing decisions are (lower the
metric the better):
• bandwidth
• delay
• load
• reliability

By default, EIGRP uses only:

• Bandwidth
• Delay

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Reliability and Load

Reliability
• Reliability is measure dynamically
• Uses error rate for measurement
• Reflects the total outgoing error rates of the interfaces along the
route
• Calculated on a five minute weighted average, so not to allow
sudden peaks and valleys to make a significant impact

Expressed as an 8 bit number

• 255 is a 100% reliable link
• 1 is a minimally reliable link

Higher the better!

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Reliability and Load
Router> show interfaces s1/0
Serial1/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial bandwidth delay
Description: Out to VERIO
Internet address is 207.21.113.186/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
Encapsulation PPP, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted>
reliability load

shows reliability as a fraction of 255, for example:

rely 190/255 (or 74% reliability)
rely 234/255 (or 92% reliability)
rely 255/255 (or 100% reliability)
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Reliability and Load
Load
• Load is measure dynamically
• Uses channel occupancy for measurement
• Reflects the total outgoing load of the interfaces along the route
• Calculated on a five minute weighted average, so not to allow sudden
peaks and valleys to make a significant impact
Expressed as an 8 bit number
• 255 is a 100% loaded link
• 1 is a minimally loaded link

Lower the better!

Note: Even though load and reliability are dynamically changing values,
EIGRP will not recalculate the route metric when these parameters
change.

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Reliability and Load

Router> show interfaces s1/0

Serial1/0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is QUICC Serial bandwidth delay
Description: Out to VERIO
Internet address is 207.21.113.186/30
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
rely 255/255, load 246/255
Encapsulation PPP, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted>
reliability load
shows load as a fraction of 255, for example:
load 10/255 (or 3% loaded link)
load 40/255 (or 16% loaded link)
load 255/255 (or 100% loaded link)

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Reliability and Load
IGRP/EIGRP metric =
[k1* BWIGRP(minimum) +
(k2* BWIGRP(minimum))/(256-LOAD) +
k3* DLYIGRP(sum) ] *
[k5/RELIABILITY + k4)]
• k2 metric effects LOAD
• k4 and k5 effects RELIABILITY
• Multiply Reliability only if > 0

Default:
k1=k3=1 and k2=k4=k5=0
• You may change the k values to change what you want to give more or less weight to.
– k1 for bandwidth
– k2 for load
– k3 for delay
– k4 and k5 for Reliability
• Higher the k value, the more that part of the metric is used to calculate the overall IGRP
metric
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Reliability and Load
Turning the knobs:
We can use the other metrics of Reliability and Load by adjusting their k values
to something greater than “0”

The command to adjust the k values is:

Router(config-router)# metric weights tos k1 k2 k3 k4 k5

Notes:
• tos is always set to 0; at one time it was Cisco’s intent to use it, but it was
never implemented
• EIGRP neighbors must agree on K values to establish an adjacency and to
avoid routing loops.

Caution!
• Know what the impact will be before changing the defaults.
• It can give you unexpected results if you do not know what you are doing!
• If you modify the weights, you should configure all routers so they are all using
the same weight values.
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Ch.5 - EIGRP

CCNP 1 version 3.0

Rick Graziani
Cabrillo College