EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)

EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol) is a Cisco proprietary routing protocol used in computer networks to exchange routing information between routers. It is an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) and is commonly used in large enterprise networks to provide a scalable and reliable routing solution.

EIGRP uses a hybrid routing protocol that combines elements of both distance vector and link-state routing protocols. It uses a metric based on bandwidth, delay, reliability, and load to determine the best path to a destination. EIGRP also maintains a topology table and uses Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) to calculate the best path to a destination.

EIGRP supports hierarchical network designs, which allow network administrators to divide large networks into smaller, more manageable subnets. This helps to reduce the size of the routing tables and improve the efficiency of the routing protocol.

EIGRP also provides support for multiple paths to a destination, which allows for load balancing and redundancy. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6, and can be configured to support different types of network topologies, such as point-to-point, broadcast, and non-broadcast networks.

Overall, EIGRP is a robust and widely used routing protocol that provides a scalable and efficient routing solution for large enterprise networks. However, because it is a proprietary protocol, it can only be used on Cisco devices, which limits its interoperability with other vendors’ networking equipment.