• Increased network width—With IP Routing Information Protocol (RIP), the largest possible width of your network is 15 hops. When EIGRP is enabled, the largest possible width is increased to 255 hops, and the EIGRP metric is large enough to support thousands of hops. The default maximum number of EIGRP hops is 100.

• Fast convergence—The DUAL algorithm allows routing information to converge quickly.

• Partial updates—EIGRP sends incremental updates (instead of sending the entire contents of the routing table) when the state of a destination changes. This feature minimizes the bandwidth required for EIGRP packets.

• Neighbor discovery mechanism—This is a simple, protocol-independent hello mechanism used to learn about neighboring devices.

• Variable-Length Subnet Masks (VLSMs).

• Arbitrary route summarization.

• Scaling—EIGRP scales to large networks.

Configuring the router eigrp command with the autonomous-system-number argument creates an EIGRP configuration called the EIGRP autonomous system configuration, or EIGRP classic mode. The EIGRP autonomous system configuration creates an EIGRP routing instance that can be used for exchanging routing information.

In EIGRP autonomous system configurations, EIGRP VPNs can be configured only under IPv4 address family configuration mode. A virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance and a route distinguisher must be defined before the address family session can be created.

When the address family is configured, we recommend that you configure an autonomous system number either by using the autonomous-system-number argument with the address-family command or by using the autonomous-system command.

Configuring the router eigrp command with the virtual-instance-name argument creates an EIGRP configuration referred to as the EIGRP named configuration or EIGRP named mode. An EIGRP named configuration does not create an EIGRP routing instance by itself; it is a base configuration that is required to define address-family configurations that are used for routing.

In EIGRP named configurations, EIGRP VPNs can be configured in IPv4 and IPv6 named configurations. A VRF instance and a route distinguisher must be defined before the address family session can be created.

A single EIGRP routing process can support multiple VRFs. The number of VRFs that can be configured is limited only by the available system resources on the device, which is determined by the number running processes and available memory. However, only a single VRF can be supported by each VPN, and redistribution between different VRFs is not supported.

Neighbor relationship maintenance is the process that devices use to dynamically learn of other devices on their directly attached networks. Devices must also discover when their neighbors become unreachable or inoperative. Neighbor relationship maintenance is achieved with low overhead by devices when they periodically send small hello packets to each other. As long as hello packets are received, the Cisco software can determine whether a neighbor is alive and functioning. After the status of the neighbor is determined, neighboring devices can exchange routing information.

The reliable transport protocol is responsible for the guaranteed, ordered delivery of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) packets to all neighbors. The reliable transport protocol supports intermixed transmission of multicast and unicast packets. Some EIGRP packets (such as updates) must be sent reliably; this means that the packets require acknowledgment from the destination. For efficiency, reliability is provided only when necessary. For example, on a multiaccess network that has multicast capabilities, hello packets need not be sent reliably to all neighbors individually. Therefore, EIGRP sends a single multicast hello packet with an indication in the packet informing receivers that the packet need not be acknowledged. The reliable transport protocol can send multicast packets quickly when unacknowledged packets are pending, thereby ensuring that the convergence time remains low in the presence of varying speed links.

Some EIGRP remote unicast-listen (any neighbor that uses unicast to communicate) and remote multicast-group neighbors may peer with any device that sends a valid hello packet, thus causing security concerns. By authenticating the packets that are exchanged between neighbors, you can ensure that a device accepts packets only from devices that know the preshared authentication key.

The DUAL finite state machine embodies the decision process for all route computations. It tracks all routes advertised by all neighbors. DUAL uses the distance information (known as the metric) to select efficient, loop-free paths. DUAL selects routes to be inserted into a routing table based on feasible successors. A successor is a neighboring device (used for packet forwarding) that has the least-cost path to a destination that is guaranteed not to be part of a routing loop. When there are no feasible successors but only neighbors advertising the destination, a recomputation must occur to determine a new successor. The time required to recompute the route affects the convergence time. Recomputation is processor-intensive, and unnecessary recomputation must be avoided. When a topology change occurs, DUAL will test for feasible successors. If there are feasible successors, DUAL will use any feasible successors it finds to avoid unnecessary recomputation.

Protocol-dependent modules are responsible for network-layer protocol-specific tasks. An example is the EIGRP module, which is responsible for sending and receiving EIGRP packets that are encapsulated in the IP. The EIGRP module is also responsible for parsing EIGRP packets and informing DUAL about the new information received. EIGRP asks DUAL to make routing decisions, but the results are stored in the IP routing table. Also, EIGRP is responsible for redistributing routes learned from other IP routing protocols.

The goodbye message is a feature designed to improve EIGRP network convergence. The goodbye message is broadcast when an EIGRP routing process is shut down to inform adjacent peers about an impending topology change. This feature allows supporting EIGRP peers to synchronize and recalculate neighbor relationships more efficiently than would occur if the peers discovered the topology change after the hold timer expired.

The following message is displayed by devices that run a supported release when a goodbye message is received:

 *Apr 26 13:48:42.523: %DUAL-5-NBRCHANGE: IP-EIGRP(0) 1: Neighbor 10.1.1.1   (Ethernet0/0) is down: Interface Goodbye received

A Cisco device that runs a software release that does not support the goodbye message can misinterpret the message as a K-value mismatch and display the following error message:

 *Apr 26 13:48:41.811: %DUAL-5-NBRCHANGE: IP-EIGRP(0) 1: Neighbor     10.1.1.1 (Ethernet0/0) is down: K-value mismatch

Note	The receipt of a goodbye message by a nonsupporting peer does not disrupt normal network operation. The nonsupporting peer terminates the session when the hold timer expires. The sending and receiving devices reconverge normally after the sender reloads.

An offset list is a mechanism for increasing incoming and outgoing metrics to routes learned via EIGRP. Optionally, you can limit the offset list with either an access list or an interface.

Note	Offset lists are available only in IPv4 configurations. IPv6 configurations do not support offset lists.

When EIGRP receives dynamic raw radio link characteristics, it computes a composite EIGRP cost metric based on a proprietary formula. To avoid churn in the network as a result of a change in the link characteristics, a tunable dampening mechanism is used.

EIGRP uses metric weights along with a set of vector metrics to compute the composite metric for local RIB installation and route selections. The EIGRP composite cost metric is calculated using the formula:

EIGRP composite cost metric = 256*((K1*Bw) + (K2*Bw)/(256 – Load) + (K3*Delay)*(K5/(Reliability + K4)))

EIGRP uses one or more vector metrics to calculate the composite cost metric. The table below lists EIGRP vector metrics and their descriptions.

EIGRP monitors metric weights on an interface to allow the tuning of EIGRP metric calculations and indicate the type of service (ToS). The table below lists the K values and their defaults.

Most configurations use the delay and bandwidth metrics, with bandwidth taking precedence. The default formula of 256*(Bw + Delay) is the EIGRP metric. The bandwidth for the formula is scaled and inverted by the following formula:

(10⁷/minimum Bw in kilobits per second)

Note	You can change the weights, but these weights must be the same on all devices.

For example, look at a link whose bandwidth to a particular destination is 128 k and the delay is 84,000 microseconds.

By using a cut-down formula, you can simplify the EIGRP metric calculation to 256*(Bw + Delay), thus resulting in the following value:

Metric = 256*(10⁷/128 + 84000/10) = 256*86525 = 22150400

To calculate route delay, divide the delay value by 10 to get the true value in tens of microseconds.

When EIGRP calculates the delay for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) and the delay is obtained from a device interface, the delay is always calculated in tens of microseconds. In most cases, when using MANET, you will not use the interface delay, but rather the delay that is advertised by the radio. The delay you will receive from the radio is in microseconds, so you must adjust the cut-down formula as follows:

Metric = (256*(10⁷/128) + (84000*256)/10) = 20000000 + 2150400 = 22150400

You can configure EIGRP to perform automatic summarization of subnet routes into network-level routes. For example, you can configure subnet 172.16.1.0 to be advertised as 172.16.0.0 over interfaces that have been configured with subnets of 192.168.7.0. Automatic summarization is performed when two or more network router configuration or address family configuration commands are configured for an EIGRP process. This feature is enabled by default.

Route summarization works in conjunction with the ip summary-address eigrp command available in interface configuration mode for autonomous system configurations and with the summary-address (EIGRP) command for named configurations. You can use these commands to perform additional summarization. If automatic summarization is in effect, there usually is no need to configure network-level summaries using the ip summary-address eigrp command.

You can configure a summary aggregate address for a specified interface. If there are specific routes in the routing table, EIGRP will advertise the summary address of the interface with a metric equal to the minimum metric of the specific routes.

A floating summary route is created by applying a default route and an administrative distance at the interface level or address family interface level. You can use a floating summary route when configuring the ip summary-address eigrp command for autonomous system configurations or the summary-address command for named configurations. The following scenarios illustrate the behavior of floating summary routes.

The figure below shows a network with three devices, Device-A, Device-B, and Device-C. Device-A learns a default route from elsewhere in the network and then advertises this route to Device-B. Device-B is configured so that only a default summary route is advertised to Device-C. The default summary route is applied to serial interface 0/1 on Device-B with the following autonomous system configuration:

Device-B(config)# interface Serial 0/1
Device-B(config-if)# ip summary-address eigrp 100 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

The default summary route is applied to serial interface 0/1 on Device-B with the following named configuration:

Device-B(config)# Router eigrp virtual-name1
Device-B(config-router)# address-family ipv4 unicast vrf vrf1 autonomous-system 1
Device-B(config-router-af)# interface serial 0/1
Device-B(config-router-af-interface)# summary-address 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 95

Figure 1. Floating Summary Route Applied to Device-B

The configuration of the default summary route on Device-B sends a 0.0.0.0/0 summary route to Device-C and blocks all other routes, including the 10.1.1.0/24 route, from being advertised to Device-C. However, this configuration also generates a local discard route—a route for 0.0.0.0/0 on the null 0 interface with an administrative distance of 5—on Device-B. When this route is created, it overrides the EIGRP-learned default route. Device-B will no longer be able to reach destinations that it would normally reach through the 0.0.0.0/0 route.

This problem is resolved by applying a floating summary route to the interface on Device-B that connects to Device-C. The floating summary route is applied by configuring an administrative distance for the default summary route on the interface of Device-B with the following statement for an autonomous system configuration:

Device-B(config-if)# ip summary-address eigrp 100 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 250

The floating summary route is applied by configuring an administrative distance for the default summary route on the interface of Device-B with the following statement for a named configuration:

Device-B(config)# router eigrp virtual-name1
Device-B(config-router)# address-family ipv4 unicast vrf vrf1 autonomous-system 1
Device-B(config-router-af)# af-interface serial0/1
Device-B(config-router-af-interface)# summary-address eigrp 100 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 250

The administrative distance of 250, applied in the summary-address command, is now assigned to the discard route generated on Device-B. The 0.0.0.0/0, from Device-A, is learned through EIGRP and installed in the local routing table. Routing to Device-C is restored.

If Device-A loses the connection to Device-B, Device-B will continue to advertise a default route to Device-C, which allows traffic to continue to reach destinations attached to Device-B. However, traffic destined to networks connected to Device-A or behind Device-A will be dropped when the traffic reaches Device-B.

The figure below shows a network with two connections from the core, Device-A and Device-D. Both Device-B and Device-E have floating summary routes configured on the interfaces connected to Device-C. If the connection between Device-E and Device-C fails, the network will continue to operate normally. All traffic will flow from Device-C through Device-B to hosts attached to Device-A and Device-D.

Figure 2. Floating Summary Route Applied for Dual-Homed Remotes

However, if the link between Device-A and Device-B fails, the network may incorrectly direct traffic because Device-B will continue to advertise the default route (0.0.0.0/0) to Device-C. In this scenario, Device-C still forwards traffic to Device-B, but Device-B drops the traffic. To avoid this problem, you should configure the summary address with an administrative distance only on single-homed remote devices or areas that have only one exit point between two segments of the network. If two or more exit points exist (from one segment of the network to another), configuring the floating default route can result in the formation of a black hole route (a route that has quick packet dropping capabilities).

You can adjust the interval between hello packets and the hold time. Hello packets and hold-time intervals are protocol-independent parameters that work for IP and Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX).

Routing devices periodically send hello packets to each other to dynamically learn of other devices on their directly attached networks. This information is used to discover neighbors and to learn when neighbors become unreachable or inoperative.

By default, hello packets are sent every 5 seconds. The exception is on low-speed, nonbroadcast multiaccess (NBMA) media, where the default hello interval is 60 seconds. Low speed is considered to be a rate of T1 or slower, as specified with the bandwidth interface configuration command. The default hello interval remains 5 seconds for high-speed NBMA networks. Note that for the purposes of EIGRP, Frame Relay and Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) networks may or may not be considered to be NBMA. These networks are considered NBMA only if the interface has not been configured to use physical multicasting.

You can configure the hold time on a specified interface for a particular EIGRP routing process designated by the autonomous system number. The hold time is advertised in hello packets and indicates to neighbors the length of time they should consider the sender valid. The default hold time is three times the hello interval or 15 seconds. For slow-speed NBMA networks, the default hold time is 180 seconds.

On very congested and large networks, the default hold time might not be sufficient for all devices to receive hello packets from their neighbors. In such cases, you may want to increase the hold time.

Note	Do not adjust the hold time without informing your technical support personnel.

Split horizon controls the sending of EIGRP update and query packets. Split horizon is a protocol-independent parameter that works for IP and IPX. When split horizon is enabled on an interface, update and query packets are not sent to destinations for which this interface is the next hop. Controlling update and query packets in this manner reduces the possibility of routing loops.

By default, split horizon is enabled on all interfaces.

Split horizon blocks route information from being advertised by a device out of any interface from which that information originated. This behavior usually optimizes communications among multiple routing devices, particularly when links are broken. However, with nonbroadcast networks (such as Frame Relay and SMDS), situations can arise for which this behavior is less than ideal. In such situations and in networks that have EIGRP configured, you may want to disable split horizon.

By default, EIGRP packets consume a maximum of 50 percent of the link bandwidth when configured with the bandwidth interface configuration command for autonomous system configurations and with the bandwidth-percent command for named configurations. You might want to change the bandwidth value if a different level of link utilization is required or if the configured bandwidth does not match the actual link bandwidth (which may have been configured to influence route metric calculations). This is a protocol-independent parameter that works for IP and IPX.

In EIGRP stub routing configurations where there is a remote site with more than one device, only one of the remote devices can be configured as the stub device. If you have two distribution layer devices and two devices at a remote site, there is no way to declare both remote devices as stub devices. If one remote device is configured as a stub device, the other remote device can neither learn routes towards the network core if the link between the stub device and the distribution layer device fails nor route around the failed link.

The stub device cannot readvertise routes learned from any neighboring EIGRP device. To resolve this issue, a leak map configuration that allows a selected set of learned routes to be readvertised to other peers can be added to the EIGRP stub routing feature. The set of routes allowed through the stub device are specified using a standard route map so that routes can be matched based on tags, prefixes, or interfaces. These routes are marked using the site-of-origin code mechanism, which prevents routes permitted through the stub from being readvertised into the core of the network.

Use the eigrp stub leak-map command to configure the EIGRP stub routing feature to reference a leak map that identifies routes that are allowed to be advertised on an EIGRP stub device that would normally have been suppressed.