ip summary-address eigrp command, as long
as a more specific route exists in the routing table. An EIGRP
router does not autosummarize networks in which it does not
participate.
Content 2.4 Implementing
Advanced EIGRP Features 2.4.3 Configuring
Manual Route Summarization Example Figure shows the
discontiguous network 172.16.0.0. In the configuration examples
for routers A and B, automatic summarization has been disabled,
so the 172.16.1.0 and 172.16.2.0 subnets are advertised into
network 10.0.0.0. The routing tables of routers in the 10.0.0.0
network, including router C as shown in Figure , now include
these discontiguous subnets.An EIGRP router autosummarizes
routes only for networks to which it is attached. If a network
was not autosummarized at the major network boundary, as is the
case in this example on routers A and B because
autosummarization was turned off, all the subnet routes are
carried into the router C routing table. Router C will not
autosummarize the 172.16.1.0 and 172.16.2.0 subnets, because it
does not own the 172.16.0.0 network. Therefore, router C would
send routes to the 172.16.1.0 and 172.16.2.0 subnets to the
WAN. Configuring a summary route on the router C interface
serial 0/0/0, as shown in the figure, means that only one route
is sent on the WAN, representing all subnets that belong to
network 172.16.0.0. To configure manual route summarization,
use the following procedure: Step 1 Select the
interface to propagate the summary route. Step 2
Specify the EIGRP routing protocol, the AS number, and the
summary address and the mask of the routes being summarized.
Note
For manual route summarization, the
summary route is advertised only if a component (a more
specific entry) of the summary route is present in the routing
table.
Content 2.4 Implementing Advanced
EIGRP Features 2.4.4 Load Balancing Across
Equal Cost Paths Equal-cost load balancing is the ability
of a router to distribute traffic over all its network ports
that are the same metric from the destination address. EIGRP
automatically load balances across equal cost paths. Load
balancing increases the use of network segments and increases
effective network bandwidth. For IP, Cisco IOS software by
default will install up to four equal-cost paths in the routing
table for most routing protocols. The maximum-paths
maximum-path command can be used to allow up to six
equal-cost paths. (Setting the maximum-path option to 1
disables load balancing.) When a packet is process-switched,
load balancing over equal-cost paths occurs on a per-packet
basis. When packets are fast-switched, load balancing over
equal-cost paths occurs on a per-destination basis. Therefore,
if you are testing load balancing, do not ping to or from
routers with the fast-switching interfaces, because these
locally router-generated packets are process-switched rather
than fast-switched, and might produce confusing results.
Content 2.4 Implementing Advanced EIGRP
Features 2.4.5 Load Balancing Across Unequal
Cost Paths EIGRP can also balance traffic across multiple
routes that have different metrics, which is called
unequal-cost load balancing. The degree to which EIGRP performs
load balancing is controlled with the variance command,
as shown in Figure .
Content 2.4 Implementing
Advanced EIGRP Features 2.4.6 Load Balancing
Across Unequal Cost Paths Example In Figure , a variance of
2 is configured, and the range of the metric values, which are
the FDs for router E to get to network Z, is 20 to 45. This
range of values determines the feasibility of a potential
route.A route is feasible if the next router in the path is
closer to the destination than the current router, and if the
metric of the alternate path is within the variance. Load
balancing can use only feasible paths, and the routing table
includes only these paths. The two feasibility conditions are:
- The local best metric (the current FD) must be greater
than the best metric (the AD) learned from the next router. In
other words, the next router in the path must be closer to the
destination than the current router. This prevents routing
loops.
- The variance multiplied by the local best
metric (the current FD) must be greater than the metric through
the next router (the alternative FD). This condition is true if
the metric of the alternate path is within the variance.
If both of these conditions are met, the route is
considered feasible and can be added to the routing table. In
the figure, there are three paths to network Z with the
following metrics: - Path 1: 30 (via B)
- Path 2:
20 (via C)
- Path 3: 45 (via D)
By default,
the router places only path 2, via C, in the routing table,
because it is the least cost path. To load balance over paths 1
and 2, use a variance of 2, because 20 * 2 = 40, which is
greater than the metric through path 1. In this example, router
E uses router C as the successor because it has the lowest FD
(20). With the variance 2 command applied to router E,
the path through router B meets the criteria for load
balancing. In this case, the FD through router B is less than
twice the FD for the successor (router C). Router D is not
considered for load balancing with this variance, because the
FD through router D is greater than twice the FD for the
successor (router C). In this example, however, router D would
never be a feasible successor no matter what the variance is,
because router D’s AD of 25 is greater than router E’s FD of
20. To avoid a potential routing loop, router D is not
considered a feasible successor.
Content
2.4 Implementing Advanced EIGRP Features
2.4.7 EIGRP Bandwidth Use Across WAN Links
EIGRP operates efficiently in WAN environments. It is scalable
on both point-to-point links and multipoint nonbroadcast
multiaccess (NBMA) links. Because of the inherent differences
in the operational characteristics of WAN links, the default
configuration parameters may not be the best option for all WAN
links. A solid understanding of EIGRP operation, coupled with
knowledge of available link speeds, can yield an efficient,
reliable, and scalable router configuration. By default, EIGRP
may use up to 50 percent of the bandwidth of an interface or
subinterface for routing traffic. EIGRP uses the bandwidth
specified with the bandwidth command, or the default
bandwidth of the link if none is configured, when calculating
how much bandwidth to use. This percentage can be changed on a
per-interface basis by using the ip bandwidth-percent
eigrp as-number percent command, where as-number
is the autonomous system number, and percent is
the percentage of the configured bandwidth that EIGRP can use.
This percentage can be greater than 100, which may be useful if
the bandwidth is configured artificially low for routing-policy
reasons. For example, assume that the actual bandwidth of a
router serial link is 64 kbps, but the bandwidth value is set
artificially low at 32 kbps. Figure shows how to modify the
behavior of EIGRP so that it limits routing protocol traffic
according to the actual bandwidth of the serial interface. The
example configuration sets the bandwidth-percent on serial 0/0
to 100 percent for the EIGRP process running in AS 24. Since
100 percent of 32 kbps is 32, EIGRP can use half of the actual
bandwidth of 64 kbps.
Content 2.4 Implementing
Advanced EIGRP Features 2.4.8 Bandwidth
Utilization over WAN Interfaces Cisco IOS software assumes
that point-to-point Frame Relay subinterfaces (like all serial
interfaces) operate at full T1 link speed. In many
implementations, however, only fractional T1 speeds are
available. Therefore, when configuring these subinterfaces, set
the bandwidth to match the contracted committed information
rate (CIR) of the permanent virtual circuit (PVC).When
configuring multipoint interfaces, especially for Frame Relay