EIGRP

This past week I’ve begun learning about EIGRP - a dynamic routing protocol that allows routers to route network traffics to remote networks without manual updates. EIGRP is a distance vector-based routing protocol but has some Link-State features. It uses DUAL to determine routes. It also provides backup routes when routes go down, and establishes network adjacencies with directly connected routers. EIGRP uses RTP for delivery and sends partial as well as bounded updates. Another important characteristic of EIGRP is that it supports equal cost load balancing and uneven cost load balancing. EIGRP’s protocol dependent modules allow it to route to several different network layer protocols. PDM’s are responsible for maintaining cost and topology tables that belong to the protocol suite, and using DUAL by translating protocol specified packets and interfacing DUAL to the protocol specific routing table. EIGRP creates an independent topology table for each protocol so a router working with both IPv4 and IPv6 will build 2 tables. EIGRP has 5 main packet types: Hello, Acknowledgement, Update, Query, and Reply. All of these components, and many more that I look forward to learning about, come together to route larger more complex networks in order to ensure that all packets get to where they need to be without manual configuration and content monitoring for changes within a network.