C H A P TER 36

Enhanced IGRP

Background
The Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) represents an evolution from its
predecessor IGRP (refer to Chapter 38, “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. It
incorporates the Diffusing-Update Algorithm (DUAL) developed at SRI International by Dr. J.J.
Garcia-Luna-Aceves.
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 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),

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Underlying Processes and Technologies

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.
Neighbor discovery/recovery is used by 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.
DUAL finite-state machine embodies the decision process for all route computations by tracking all
routes advertised by all neighbors. DUAL uses distance information to select efficient, loop-free
paths and selects routes for insertion in a routing table based on feasible successors. A feasible
successor is a neighboring router used for packet forwarding that is a least-cost path to a destination
that is guaranteed not to be part of a routing loop. When a neighbor changes a metric, or when a
topology change occurs, DUAL tests for feasible successors. If one is found, DUAL uses it to avoid
recomputing the route unnecessarily. When no feasible successors exist but neighbors still advertise
the destination, a recomputation (also known as a diffusing computation) must occur to determine a
new successor. Although recomputation is not processor-intensive, it does affect convergence time,
so it is advantageous to avoid unnecessary recomputations.
Protocol-dependent modules are responsible for network-layer protocol-specific requirements. The
IP-Enhanced IGRP module, for example, is responsible for sending and receiving Enhanced IGRP
packets that are encapsulated in IP. Likewise, IP-Enhanced IGRP is also responsible for parsing
Enhanced IGRP packets and informing DUAL of the new information that has been received.
IP-Enhanced IGRP asks DUAL to make routing decisions, the results of which are stored in the IP
routing table. IP-Enhanced IGRP is responsible for redistributing routes learned by other IP routing
protocols.

Routing Concepts
Enhanced IGRP relies on four fundamental concepts: neighbor tables, topology tables, route states,
and route tagging. Each of these is summarized in the discussions that follow.

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 Neighbor Tables

Neighbor Tables
When a router discovers a new neighbor, it records the neighbor’s address and interface as an entry
in the neighbor table. One neighbor table exists for each protocol-dependent module. When a
neighbor sends a hello packet, it advertises a hold time, which is the amount of time a router treats
a neighbor as reachable and operational. If a hello packet is not received within the hold time, the
hold time expires and DUAL is informed of the topology change.
The neighbor-table entry also includes information required by RTP. Sequence numbers are
employed to match acknowledgments with data packets, and the last sequence number received from
the neighbor is recorded so that out-of-order packets can be detected. A transmission list is used to
queue packets for possible retransmission on a per-neighbor basis. Round-trip timers are kept in the
neighbor-table entry to estimate an optimal retransmission interval.

Topology Tables
The topology table contains all destinations advertised by neighboring routers. The
protocol-dependent modules populate the table, and the table is acted on by the DUAL finite-state
machine. Each entry in the topology table includes the destination address and a list of neighbors
that have advertised the destination. For each neighbor, the entry records the advertised metric,
which the neighbor stores in its routing table. An important rule that distance vector protocols must
follow is that if the neighbor advertises this destination, it must use the route to forward packets.
The metric that the router uses to reach the destination is also associated with the destination. The
metric that the router uses in the routing table, and to advertise to other routers, is the sum of the best
advertised metric from all neighbors, plus the link cost to the best neighbor.

Route States
A topology-table entry for a destination can exist in one of two states: active or passive. A destination
is in the passive state when the router is not performing a recomputation, or in the active state when
the router is performing a recomputation. If feasible successors are always available, a destination
never has to go into the active state, thereby avoiding a recomputation.
A recomputation occurs when a destination has no feasible successors. The router initiates the
recomputation by sending a query packet to each of its neighboring routers. The neighboring router
can send a reply packet, indicating it has a feasible successor for the destination, or it can send a
query packet, indicating that it is participating in the recomputation. While a destination is in the
active state, a router cannot change the destination’s routing-table information. After the router has
received a reply from each neighboring router, the topology-table entry for the destination returns to
the passive state, and the router can select a successor.

Route Tagging
Enhanced IGRP supports internal and external routes. Internal routes originate within an
Enhanced IGRP AS. Therefore, a directly attached network that is configured to run Enhanced IGRP
is considered an internal route and is propagated with this information throughout the Enhanced
IGRP AS. External routes are learned by another routing protocol or reside in the routing table as
static routes. These routes are tagged individually with the identity of their origin.
External routes are tagged with the following information:
• Router ID of the Enhanced IGRP router that redistributed the route
• AS number of the destination

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Enhanced IGRP Packet Types

• Configurable administrator tag

• ID of the external protocol
• Metric from the external protocol
• Bit flags for default routing
Route tagging allows the network administrator to customize routing and maintain flexible policy
controls. Route tagging is particularly useful in transit ASs, where Enhanced IGRP typically
interacts with an interdomain routing protocol that implements more global policies, resulting in a
very scalable, policy-based routing.

Enhanced IGRP Packet Types

Enhanced IGRP uses the following packet types: hello and acknowledgment, update, and query and
reply.
Hello packets are multicast for neighbor discovery/recovery and do not require acknowledgment. An
acknowledgment packet is a hello packet that has no data. Acknowledgment packets contain a
non-zero acknowledgment number and always are sent by using a unicast address.
Update packets are used to convey reachability of destinations. When a new neighbor is discovered,
unicast update packets are sent so that the neighbor can build up its topology table. In other cases,
such as a link-cost change, updates are multicast. Updates always are transmitted reliably.
Query and reply packets are sent when a destination has no feasible successors. Query packets are
always multicast. Reply packets are sent in response to query packets to instruct the originator not
to recompute the route because feasible successors exist. Reply packets are unicast to the originator
of the query. Both query and reply packets are transmitted reliably.

36-4 Internetworking Technology Overview, June 1999