Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: show ip eigrp neighbors
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is a Cisco advanced distance vector routing protocol that maintains detailed neighbor information. As a network engineer, you often need to verify which neighbors are up, what their IP addresses are, and whether there are any retransmission or queue issues that could affect routing stability. Cisco IOS provides specific show commands to inspect this neighbor state, and the question is testing whether you know exactly which command exposes EIGRP neighbor details such as IP addresses, retransmit interval, and queue counts.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
EIGRP maintains several internal tables: the neighbor table, the topology table, and the routing table. The neighbor table stores information about directly adjacent EIGRP neighbors, including IP address, interface, hold time, smooth round trip time, retransmit timeout, and queue counts. The topology table stores all learned routes and metrics, and the routing table holds the best paths that are actively used for forwarding. To answer this question, you must recall which specific show command displays the neighbor table with timing and queue information. Other show commands related to EIGRP focus on routes or interfaces but not on neighbor retransmit and queue counts.
Step-by-Step Solution:
1. Identify that the required information is about neighbors, not routes or topology entries.
2. Recall that EIGRP neighbor information is stored in the EIGRP neighbor table.
3. Remember that the IOS command that displays the neighbor table is show ip eigrp neighbors.
4. Note that show ip eigrp neighbors output includes the neighbor IP address, interface, hold time, smooth round trip time, retransmit timeout, and queue counts.
5. Compare this with other EIGRP show commands: show ip eigrp topology shows learned routes, and show ip eigrp interfaces shows interface level EIGRP status, not per neighbor queue counts.
6. Conclude that show ip eigrp neighbors is the correct command that matches all requirements in the question.
Verification / Alternative check:
You can verify this by considering what each command typically displays. If you have experience working on a Cisco router, you might remember that typing show ip eigrp neighbors immediately lists neighbor IP addresses, the interface used, uptime, smooth round trip time, retransmit timeout, and queue counts. None of the other commands include all of this detailed neighbor information together. This mental cross check confirms that the neighbor specific show command is required here, not a topology or interface oriented command.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option a: show ip eigrp adjacency is not a valid standard IOS command and therefore cannot display the requested information.
Option b: show ip eigrp topology shows the EIGRP topology table, focusing on routes, metrics, and feasible successors, not on per neighbor queue and retransmit details.
Option c: show ip eigrp interfaces gives an overview of which interfaces are running EIGRP and their status, but it does not list neighbor IP addresses with queue counts.
Option e: show ip route eigrp displays EIGRP learned routes in the routing table but does not show neighbor timing or queue information.
Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes confuse the topology table with the neighbor table and mistakenly select show ip eigrp topology, thinking it reveals every detail about EIGRP. Another common mistake is assuming that any command containing the word interface will show all needed statistics, but interface commands focus on physical or logical links, not neighbor adjacency parameters like retransmit interval and queues. Additionally, it is easy to misremember the exact command syntax and think a nonstandard command such as show ip eigrp adjacency exists. Paying attention to the wording neighbors in the question and remembering that EIGRP neighbor information lives in the neighbor table helps avoid these errors.
Final Answer:
The correct command that displays EIGRP neighbor IP addresses along with retransmit interval and queue counts is show ip eigrp neighbors.
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