Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (E…

Chapter Goals

Identify the four key technologies employed by Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP).
Understand the Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL), and describe how it improves the operational efficiency of EIGRP.

Learn how to use EIGRP to interconnect networks with different routing protocols as well as different routed protocols.

Discover how it is possible to migrate gradually to EIGRP.

Enhanced IGRP
The Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) represents an evolution from its predecessor IGRP (refer to Chapter 42, "Interior Gateway Routing Protocol"). This evolution resulted from changes in networking and the demands of diverse, large-scale internetworks. Enhanced IGRP integrates the capabilities of link-state protocols into distance vector protocols. Additionally, EIGRP contains several important protocols that greatly increase its operational efficiency relative to other routing protocols. One of these protocols is the Diffusing update algorithm (DUAL) developed at SRI International by Dr. J.J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves. DUAL enables EIGRP routers to determine whether a path advertised by a neighbor is looped or loop-free, and allows a router running EIGRP to find alternate paths without waiting on updates from other routers.

Enhanced IGRP provides compatibility and seamless interoperation with IGRP routers. An automatic-redistribution mechanism allows IGRP routes to be imported into Enhanced IGRP, and vice versa, so it is possible to add Enhanced IGRP gradually into an existing IGRP network. Because the metrics for both protocols are directly translatable, they are as easily comparable as if they were routes that originated in their own autonomous systems (ASs). In addition, Enhanced IGRP treats IGRP routes as external routes and provides a way for the network administrator to customize them.

This chapter provides an overview of the basic operations and protocol characteristics of Enhanced IGRP.

Enhanced IGRP Capabilities and Attributes
Key capabilities that distinguish Enhanced IGRP from other routing protocols include fast convergence, support for variable-length subnet mask, support for partial updates, and support for multiple network layer protocols.

A router running Enhanced IGRP stores all its neighbors' routing tables so that it can quickly adapt to alternate routes. If no appropriate route exists, Enhanced IGRP queries its neighbors to discover an alternate route. These queries propagate until an alternate route is found.

Its support for variable-length subnet masks permits routes to be automatically summarized on a network number boundary. In addition, Enhanced IGRP can be configured to summarize on any bit boundary at any interface.

Enhanced IGRP does not make periodic updates. Instead, it sends partial updates only when the metric for a route changes. Propagation of partial updates is automatically bounded so that only those routers that need the information are updated. As a result of these two capabilities, Enhanced IGRP consumes significantly less bandwidth than IGRP.

Enhanced IGRP includes support for AppleTalk, IP, and Novell NetWare. The AppleTalk implementation redistributes routes learned from the Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP). The IP implementation redistributes routes learned from OSPF, Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS), Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP), or Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). The Novell implementation redistributes routes learned from Novell RIP or Service Advertisement Protocol (SAP).

Underlying Processes and Technologies
To provide superior routing performance, Enhanced IGRP employs four key technologies that combine to differentiate it from other routing technologies: neighbor discovery/recovery, reliable transport protocol (RTP), DUAL finite-state machine, and protocol-dependent modules.

The neighbor discovery/recovery mechanism enables routers to dynamically learn about other routers on their directly attached networks. Routers also must discover when their neighbors become unreachable or inoperative. This process is achieved with low overhead by periodically sending small hello packets. As long as a router receives hello packets from a neighboring router, it assumes that the neighbor is functioning, and the two can exchange routing information.

Reliable Transport Protocol (RTP) is responsible for guaranteed, ordered delivery of Enhanced IGRP packets to all neighbors. It supports intermixed transmission of multicast or unicast packets. For efficiency, only certain Enhanced IGRP packets are transmitted reliably. On a multiaccess network that has multicast capabilities, such as Ethernet, it is not necessary to send hello packets reliably to all neighbors individually. For that reason, Enhanced IGRP sends a single multicast hello packet containing an indicator that informs the receivers that the packet need not be acknowledged. Other types of packets, such as updates, indicate in the packet that acknowledgment is required. RTP contains a provision for sending multicast packets quickly when unacknowledged packets are pending, which helps ensure that convergence time remains low in the presence of varying speed links.

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