EIGRP with different vendors.

[jlajuarez]

Yesterday I was invited for a job interview from a company for a junior network administrator position. I am currently looking for my first job as I am a fresh graduate.

The guy who interviewed me asked me this question, this is how it went:

Guy: Can you use EIGRP with different vendor routers?

Me: No.

Guy: Why?

Me: Because it is Cisco proprietary. If the company has multi vendor routers, OSPF should be used.

Guy: What if I tell you we used EIGRP with Cisco and Huawei devices.

Me: (very confused) That's.... very interesting. How?

Guy: *smug*

The technical interview went well until that... and i guess i flonked on that technical question. But... really? Is it possible? I think he is just messing with me. Like trying to see how I would react. But I answered in all honesty like how any geek would be so excited to learn something new or somethign he thought was impossible. I didn't want to say "oh yeah.. you can use it" even if I honestly believe that EIGRP can only be used with Cisco devices.

Enlighten me.

[cadet alain · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Google gave me this:http://www.networkworld.com/edge/news/2004/0728huawei.html

Regards.

Alain.

[lgijssel]

Yeah sure, Huawei.

I vaguely remember a story about them being sued by Cisco for copying their machines, not just the externals but the inside as well. So it is logical to presume they can do EIGRP......

regards,

Leo

[Calin C.]

The manual below is from 2001, 10 years old, but it show clearly that Huawei devices support(ed) EIGRP:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/51597859/31010865-VRP1-5-Command-Reference-Volume-2

I don't know if they do support is still, but anyway the question was not the most appropriate one.

Like something ask "can you run IOS on Windows?" Default answer: NO, but the person who ask can be a "smart pants guy" and tell you, aaa you know there are some emulators that can support IOS. Come on, the interview should be about your knowledge, not the way you (or others) can trick the system

HTH,

Calin

[jlajuarez]

Yeah I agree it was about the knowledge. And that clearly showed I am not knowledgeable.

[Jon Marshall · Accepted solution]

Yeah I agree it was about the knowledge. And that clearly showed I am not knowledgeable.

Actually, i totally disagree with that. If asked the same question i would have said the same thing. As Calin says, that question says a lot more about the person asking it than it does about your knowledge.

If you failed the interview because of that then trust me you really don't want to be working in an environment like that anyway.

Jon

[jlajuarez]

Yes i believe I failed the interview.

I really wanted to pass it because their HR department contacted me and it's from one of the largest telecom companies here in the country.

Oh well I guess I'll have another chance someday.

Yeah I guess that environment would just suck. Thanks for that Jon.

[Peter Paluch]

Hello,

Don't be really worried about that. If that is really how the guy conducted your interview then I would say the guy had a complex of needing to bury somebody. It is even Cisco's official position to go for open protocols in multi-vendor environments. If there was any kludge to make EIGRP work with Huawei/Juniper/whatever routers then they must have simply licensed the technology, or have it reverse-engineered. The EIGRP itself is covered by several patents which means it is not that easy to implement it for any other vendor.

I would say your answer was perfectly correct, and I would respond in the same way. Being chased for corner cases and minuscule exceptions simply is not about your knowledge - rather, it is about trying to justify an opinion that you're incompetent, and with such an approach, we all here would be incompetent as there are dozens of such small issues we cannot possibly have come into contact with.

Really, Jon has put it down just right: you would not want to work for such a person anyway. Don't worry about it at all, alright?

Best regards,

Peter

[jlajuarez]

Yes Peter I felt that he was trying to bury me when he kept asking me really complex stuff. I know I answered everything right except for that one. I just really felt bad as it was my first time ever to be interviewed by a company and I was so excited that time. I left that place really dejected.

You and Jon are right.. I wouldn't want to work for him anyway. He's such an ass. I'm just a fresh graduate and he grills me like I had 10 years of experience.

Thanks for making me feel better guys. Really appreciate it.

[Ivan Krimmel]

Hey jlajuarez,

chin up!

If you answered the other questions just right, don't worry about this one. They might just were looking around to learn whom they could have fire today in case they really need to do so. Do you know whether their ad is till on their website? They might be just collecting CVs, screening candidates without an immediate urge to on-board someone. You might still get the call. Even if they are practicing this kind of 'out of the box' thinking they might be still are nice people to work with.

Regarding the attitude of that interviewer...well, you know, sometimes that job is not a pleasant one, and you sometimes are expected to think one step further, or broader.

Concerning you're a fresh graduate - you will hardly develop your abilities to think, I mean your mental capabilities, like logic and ability to think broader. You will mostly absorb some experience. So be ready for some unexpected questions next time to prove you're one of the best guys out there!

Good luck,

Ivan.

[shane.erwin]

BTW,  I agree.  If that is all you missed and the person was smug/didn't want to help lift you up, you don't want to work for them.  A good senior person expects the junior people around them will be light in some knowledge and help them grow.  That is a sign of a good leader. You might have dodged a bullet. Look for someone willing to invest in you. Good luck.

[vig.cisco]

is it possible to use Eigrp confiruration between cisco & juniper router

[Harold Ritter]

Although an informational RFC (RFC7868) has been published for EIGRP a couple of years ago, which would technically allow other vendors to implement EIGRP in their NOS, I do not think there are any plans for Juniper to support EIGRP.

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc7868/

Huawei is the only vendor I know that also supports EIGRP.

Regards,

[grabonlee]

EIGRP is not supported by any router vendor till date, apart from Cisco, although EIGRP protocol is now a RFC. I wouldn't expect any vendor to include EIGRP in any of their products, as we know it's all about competition, and if they do, then they would likely set Cisco up for being the only dominant player in Routing/Switching technologies.

There is the belief that Huawei implements EIGRP in their routers, but I'm yet to see any of their router product datasheet that explicitly mentions EIGRP. Even their Support site on Cisco/Huawei interoperability mentions only OSPF.

https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1000114001/d8f06796/guide-for-replacement-and-interoperation-between-huawei-switches-and-cisco-switches