The EIGRP is inherently the multicast routing protocol because it will support for the non IP protocols. The mechanisms and configuration techniques will slightly vary from the IPv4 to IPv6. The engineers or professionals who have worked with the IPv4 will able to get the IPv6 concept very easily. The EIGRP maintains the feature parity over the protocols, when appropriate. Because of this difference, the operation and configuration will slightly differ.
There are few major differences between the version 4 and version 6 are such as:
- The EIGRP for IPv6 routing process will use the shut down feature
- With the EIGRP for IPv6, the router ID is needed on the each router or a routing process will not start.
- The EIGRP for the IPv6 is configured directly on a router interface.
To address certain issues in the IGRP, the Cisco created an enhanced version of the EIGRP which is significantly more capable than the IGRP. To advertise the routing information whenever necessary, there is the change without the need of router to advertise that periodically, the layer 3 independent, transparent protocol is capable of the reliable multicast and unicast delivery. To maintain the loop free operation at each instant, the EIGRP uses the feasibility condition to identify the neighbors, offering the guaranteed loop free path to the given destination. It will allow the EIGRP router to avoid the forwarding packets to the neighbor from the routing loop.
The MD5 keyed digest in each EIGRP packet prevents the introduction of unauthorized or false routing messages from unapproved sources. For EIGRP MD5 authentication, you must configure an authenticating key and a key ID on both the sending router and the receiving router.
