IGP

networkingISP & telecom

Stands for: Interior Gateway Protocol

Interior Gateway Protocol - the class of routing protocols that run inside one autonomous system: OSPF, IS-IS, EIGRP, RIP.

An IGP's job is fast, complete knowledge of one organization's own topology: link-state protocols (OSPF, IS-IS) flood the map and let every router compute shortest paths; older distance-vector protocols (RIP) passed rumors of distance instead. IGPs optimize for quick convergence and internal metrics, and they deliberately do not carry the whole internet - that scale and policy problem belongs to the exterior side, BGP. In MPLS networks the IGP also carries the labels' underlying reachability, which is why IGP design remains a carrier craft.

Also known as: igp, interior gateway protocol, interior routing

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