EIGRP and Core Ring topology

[Chris Knipe]

Hi,

I am working on trying to remove some unneeded complexity for our current network setup and looking for some advice/prior examples and experiences to help persuade some others to avoid this topology.  We currently have a core ring of 6 routers, but only 2 of them have an internet exit.  My thought is that the routers without internet exit points should really just be designated as a distribution type switch as these really just aggregate traffic from multiple sites downstream.   I feel that the non-internet connected core devices really just add unnecessary extra hops to arrive to their destination given that there is not really a hierarchical traffic flow model once it hits the core. 

Can anyone share their experiences with a Core Ring running EIGRP that caused them to move away from this design. I am using Cisco's SAFE documentation (link below) to back up my reasoning in moving toward a new core design, but having a few "real world" stories to add on top would really help sell the solution. 

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Security/SAFE_RG/SAFE_rg/chap3.html

[Jon Marshall]

Chris

Not sure how many people will have used EIGRP in a core ring topology so answers may be limited,

However there are many of us on here who have used EIGRP and done design so perhaps if you could provide a few more details about the topology we may be able to give you some pointers.

What would help would be an idea of the overall picture in terms of what and how things are connected to the core.

Jon