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OSPF vs EIGRP

habeeb_talal
Level 1
Level 1

Hi,

we have a cisco based network, we want to configure dynamic routing protocol so which dynamic routing we should use?, OSPF or EIGRP.

also what is the advantage and disadvantage of both routing protocols in practical experience.

Thanks

6 Replies 6

royalblues
Level 10
Level 10

Habbeb,

The Choice should depend on the network topology.

Both the routing protocols provide fast convergence and scale pretty well. EIGRP is certainly faster than ospf when there is availability of a feasible successor

As per my experience, EIGRP works out well when the topology is confined to one geographical location whereas OSPF works out well where the topology is more heirarchial (using multiple areas).

HTH

Narayan

pciaccio
Level 4
Level 4

They both are very good routing protocols. OSPF is an open standard and can be supported on non Cisco routers. They both scale well to growth. They are both Link state vector protocols and only change routes upon changes in the network.They both can be modified to promote or demote routes according to your preferences. In my opionion. if you are staying in the Cisco realm then use EIGRP. OSPF has the use of Areas and you need to understand Area domains and optimizing routing between them. EIGRP is more of a straight forward protocol. If you have differing vendor equipment and or they can only run OSPF then you will have to run an OSPF with them or now learn how to redistribute the default parameters between the routing protocols... My preference is EIGRP...Good Luck...

Jon Marshall
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi

In addtion to other comments.

EIGRP easier to configure and set up. If you are using EIGRP across your WAN between multiple sites then make sure you can summarize network ranges from each site. if you cannot then you would be better off going with OSPF.

Without summarization EIGRP will query all routers across your WAN when it needs to find another router, assuming it doesn't have a feasible successor, and then you get the dreaded "stuck in active" messages.

Jon

Joseph W. Doherty
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

One other important difference, EIGRP supports unequal cost paths, OSPF only equal cost paths.

PS:

Although OSPF is an open standard, there are some things left to the implementation as to how it's accomplished. Cisco's later OSPF implementations have some enhancements and/or tuning options that other vendors might not provide. These enhancements don't seem to interfere with interoperation, but do seem to improve performance and stability.

Hi,

Thank you all for these useful informations, it is really confusing when tring to choose the best routing protocol but i think that if the network is cisco based and there is no intension to change or add any other vendor then it is better to choose EIGRP.

Thank you all again

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