EIGRP Metric Calculation Demystified When it comes to determining the EIGRP Metric there seems to be many people who

are confused in "how" it is actually calculated. I often times hear the following two questions. an you !ust add the indi"idual costs along the path to the destination li#e we do in $%P&' (o we add the cost to the ne)t*hop router to the reported distance +R(, as ad"ertised by the ne)t*hop router' -he answer to both of these questions is absolutely and without a doubt. /o. Why then is there so much confusion' I belie"e part of the problem lies in the incorrect way it is referenced by many of the different documentation sources a"ailable to readers. &or e)ample. in the old regard to the EIGRP metric4 T e lowest!cost route is calculated by adding t e cost between t e ne"t! o# router and t e destination (referred to as t e ad$ertised distance %&'() to t e cost between t e local router and t e ne"t! o# router) (T e total is referred to as t e feasible distance %*'()) 5pon first glance this seems correct. but it is plainly a fallacious statement regarding the EIGRP metric. In another e)ample in the same boo# at the bottom of page 123. it gi"es the following definition for the feasible distance +&(,. 0*' or fd (feasible distance) ! +,ual to t e su- of t e costs of t e links to reac network (a)) 6gain. an apparently inaccurate reference to the actual EIGRP metric. In addition. the e)amples that follow in the boo#. clearly show they are 0adding7 the indi"idual lin# costs along the path from source to the destination to come up with the total EIGRP metric. 6n ob"ious o"ersight on the part of the author8s resulting in an incorrect EIGRP calculation. 6nother source for the possible misunderstanding can be found in the new page 23. it states the following regarding the EIGRP metric4 isco Press 9oo# isco Press boo# titled. 0CCNP Self Study: Building Scalable Cisco

Internetworks (BSCI). by atherine Paquet and (iane -eare. on page 123. it states the following in

titled 0I-#le-enting Cisco IP .outing (./0T+) *oundation 1earning 2uide . by (iane -eare. on

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EIGRP Metric Calculation Demystified T e lowest!cost route is calculated by adding t e cost between t e ne"t! o# router and t e destination3referred to as t e ad$ertised distance (&')3to t e cost between t e local router and t e ne"t! o# router) T e su- of t ese costs is referred to as t e feasible distance (*')) In addition. on page =< of the same boo#. it states. T e &' is t e +I2.P -etric for an +I2.P neig bor router to reac a #articular network) T is is t e -etric between t e ne"t! o# neig bor router and t e destination network) T e *' is t e +I2.P -etric for t is router to reac a #articular network) T is is t e su- of t e &' for t e #articular network learned fro- an +I2.P neig bor4 #lus t e +I2.P -etric to reac t at neig bor (t e -etric between t is router and t e ne"t! o# router)) /otice the author8s use of the words 0adding7 and 0sum7 in the first reference as well as the use of 0sum7 in the second reference. I belie"e both of these references ma#e improper use of the words to describe the calculation of the EIGRP metric and gi"es many readers the impression that you can simply add the 6( of the neighboring router to the cost to reach the neighboring router. Resulting in the sum equal to the EIGRP metric. 6gain. this is incorrect and I will show this in an e)ample later in the paper. Please. do not get me wrong. I am not trying to disrespect the authors8 in any way. In fact. I am "ery fond of both these author8s and ha"e se"eral of their boo#s in my own technical library. -hey are among my fa"orite list of authors8. I am merely trying to show a possible cause to the misconception and misunderstanding others may ha"e regarding the EIGRP metric calculation. &urthermore. in the following isco document on +n anced Interior 2ateway .outing

Protocol (+I2.P). (ocument I(4 <2>?2. it gi"es this definition for the feasible distance4 *easible distance is t e best -etric along a #at to a destination network4 including t e -etric to t e neig bor ad$ertising t at #at ) .e#orted distance is t e total -etric along a #at to a destination network as ad$ertised by an u#strea- neig bor) Many people confuse the abo"e passage to mean that you 0add7 the metric to reach the ne)t*hop neighbor to the reported distance +R(, of the upstream neighbor to arri"e at the total metric along the
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EIGRP Metric Calculation Demystified path. 6gain. a seemingly inaccurate statement regarding the EIGRP metric. While it is true that the feasible distance +&(, is the total cost along a path from source to destination. It is erroneous to say the total metric is equal to the 0sum7 of the indi"idual lin# costs or to say the total metric is equal to the cost to reach the ne)t*hop neighbor plus the R( of the ne)t*hop neighbor. @ou can "erify this by using the EIGRP Metric formula. Recall the EIGRP formula uses the minimum bandwidth +in #bps, along the path from source to destination and the total cumulati"e delay +in <?s of microseconds, along this same path from source to destination. &or e)ample. ta#e the following networ#4

&igure < A EIGRP Metric

-he metric +or cost, of each of the indi"idual lin#s can be calculated using the EIGRP formula. %hown below is the often used simplified EIGRP formula. Metric B 3C2 D +9W E (elay, where 9W B <?F= G interface 9W and (elay B +total interface delay G <?, %tep < * calculate the indi"idual lin# metric for R<*R3.
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EIGRP Metric Calculation Demystified $n the R< to R3 lin# we are using an interface 9W of <C>>#bps and a delay of 3???? microseconds. -he metric is calculated as follows4 Metric B 3C2 D H+<?.???.???G<C>>, E +3????G<?,I Metric B 3C2 D H2>=2 E 3???I Metric B 3C2 D +J>=2, B 3<2KJC2 %tep 3 * calculate the indi"idual lin# metric for R3*R1. ;i#ewise. on the R3 to R1 serial lin# we calculate the metric to be 3<2KJC2. %tep 1 * calculate the indi"idual lin# metric for R1 to the destination. -he &astEthernet interface on R1 is calculated using an interface 9W of <??Mbps and a delay of <?? microseconds. -he metric is Metric B 3C2 D H+<?.???.???G<??.???, E +<??G<?,I Metric B 3C2 D H<?? E <?I Metric B 3C2 D +<<?, B 3J<2? %tep > * adding the indi"idual lin# metrics. 6dding the indi"idual lin# metrics from the steps abo"e results in a total EIGRP Metric of >12=J=3. Metric B 3<2KJC2 E 3<2KJC2 E 3J<2? B >12=J=3 %tep C * calculate the metric using the EIGRP formula. 5sing the EIGRP formula to calculate the total metric from R< to destination <?.<.<.?G3> results in Metric of 32J>><2. In the abo"e e)ample the least 9W is <C>>#bps and the total cumulati"e delay is 3???? E 3???? E <?? B >?<??. 5sing the EIGRP formula we get4 Metric B 3C2 D H+<?.???.???G<C>>, E +>?<??G<?,I Metric B 3C2 D H2>=2 E >?<?I
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EIGRP Metric Calculation Demystified Metric B 3C2 D +<?>J2, B 32J>><2 omparing the metrics calculated in %tep > and %tep C. clearly shows these are not the same. Pro"ing you can not simply add the indi"idual lin# metrics to arri"e at the total EIGRP Metric. In addition. the total EIGRP metric is not equal to the cost to reach the ne)t*hop neighbor plus the R( as ad"ertised by the ne)t*hop neighbor. 6gain. we can "erify this using the EIGRP formula. %tep 2 * calculate the indi"idual lin# metric for R<*R3. 6s calculated in %tep < abo"e the cost or Metric to reach the ne)t*hop neighbor +R3 in our case, is 3<2KJC2. %tep = * calculate the &( for R3 to reach the destination. -he cost from R3 to destination networ# <?.<.<.?G3> is 3<=3><2. -his is the &( for R3 and is also the R( that is ad"ertised to R<. Metric B 3C2 D H+<?.???.???G<C>>, E +3?<??G<?,I Metric B 3C2 D H2>=2 E 3?<?I Metric B 3C2 D +J>J2, B 3<=3><2 %tep J * adding the R( of the ne)t*hop neighbor to the cost to reach the ne)t*hop neighbor. 6dding the metric calculated in %tep 2 to the metric calculated in %tep = yields a total Metric of >1>33=3. Metric B 3<2KJC2 E 3<=3><2 B >1>33=3 6gain. adding these two metrics together clearly shows the sum is not the same as the actual EIGRP Metric we calculated in %tep C. %o. in conclusion. we !ust pro"ed that the total cost or metric in EIGRP is not equal to the sum
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EIGRP Metric Calculation Demystified of the indi"idual lin# metrics nor is it equal to the R( of the ne)t*hop neighbor plus the lin# metric to reach the ne)t*hop neighbor. In all calculations of the metric. you must use the EIGRP formula and calculate the metric from source to destination independently. Meaning the metric for R3 to the destination is calculated using the EIGRP formula. -he metric for R< must also be calculated using the EIGRP formula. @ou cannot calculate R<8s metric by ta#ing the metric as seen by R3 and simply add the cost to reach R3. 6s we ha"e shown in the abo"e calculations. this does not result in the correct EIGRP Metric calculation.

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