Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is best described as which type of routing protocol?

• A. Link State
• B. Path Vector
• C. Balanced Hybrid
• D. Distance Vector

Answer: (C)

EIGRP is best described as a balanced hybrid routing protocol because it mixes elements from two approaches. It behaves like a distance-vector protocol in how routers share routing information and compute routes using metrics such as bandwidth, delay, reliability, load, and MTU. At the same time, it incorporates features that resemble link-state behavior to improve convergence and prevent loops—such as the use of the DUAL algorithm to verify loop-free paths, the concept of feasible successors, and the ability to send partial updates rather than flooding the entire topology. This combination lets EIGRP achieve fast convergence and reliable routing without the full topology flooding of pure link-state protocols and without the simplicity (and some convergence drawbacks) of pure distance-vector protocols. It’s not a path-vector protocol (that’s typical of BGP), nor is it a pure link-state or pure distance-vector protocol, hence the hybrid description fits best.