default seed metric 0 and infinity

[rossmillan]

Hi There,

Can seed metric of 0 and infinity be used interchangeably?

Both will result in an unreachable network so what is the difference between the two. For example the cisco book says ISIS default seed metric 0, but RIP and EIGRP are infinity.

[mohammedmahmoud]

Hi,

No, seed metric of 0 is the absolute opposite of infinity, meaning that if we redistribute into ISIS without defining a metric, the routes will be redistributed normally and they'll have a seed (initial) metric of 0, but in the case of RIP and EIGRP the seed (initial) metric is infinity and thus unless a valid metric is configured while redistributing, the routes won't be redistributed.

HTH,

Mohammed Mahmoud.

[royalblues]

Mohammed is right,

EIGRP can redistribute only a connected or static route without a metric associated with it.

HTH

Narayan

[mohammedmahmoud]

Hi,

Narayan is totally right, in addition to my post the only special case of EIGRP redsitruting without seed metric is when redistribute connected or static, where EIGRP uses the interface (in case of static, the outgoing interface parameters are used) parameters (bandwidth and delay) to calculate the metric.

HTH,

Mohammed Mahmoud.