How to Configure EIGRP Redistribution with Route Maps in Cisco

When managing dynamic routing protocols like EIGRP, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal is the use of route maps for redistribution. As network designs evolve and become more complex, controlling which routes get redistributed and how they're treated becomes essential. Route maps provide that granular control, allowing you to fine-tune routing behavior with precision.

In older Cisco systems, route redistribution was often a broad-strokes operation—redistributing all static, connected, or OSPF routes into EIGRP without much discrimination. Today, the process has matured significantly, giving network administrators far more flexibility.

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### What Are Route Maps?

A **route map** acts like a policy engine in routing. It allows you to match certain conditions (such as access lists or prefix lists) and then apply specific actions (like setting metrics or tags). You can use route maps to selectively redistribute routes, modify their metrics, and apply tags for route filtering or identification downstream.

Learn more about route maps on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_map).

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### Fine-Grained Redistribution Example

Let’s walk through an example of how route maps can be used to selectively redistribute static routes into EIGRP with specific metrics and tags:

Router(config)# ip route 192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0 172.22.1.4

Router(config)# ip route 192.168.11.0 255.255.255.0 172.22.1.4

Router(config)# ip route 192.168.12.0 255.255.255.0 172.22.1.4

Router(config)# access-list 20 permit 192.168.10.0

Router(config)# access-list 21 permit 192.168.11.0

Here, we're defining three static routes and grouping two of them using access lists. These access lists will be matched in the route map to apply specific attributes.

Router(config)# route-map STATIC permit 10

Router(config-route-map)# match ip address 20

Router(config-route-map)# set metric 56 100 255 1 1500

Router(config-route-map)# set tag 2

The first block of the route map matches routes permitted by access list 20 and applies a custom metric and tag.

Router(config)# route-map STATIC permit 20

Router(config-route-map)# match ip address 21

Router(config-route-map)# set metric 128 200 255 1 1500

Similarly, the second block handles a different route with its own metric values.

Router(config)# route-map STATIC deny 30

The deny clause ensures that any other static routes (such as 192.168.12.0) not explicitly matched are not redistributed.

Router(config)# router eigrp 55

Router(config-router)# redistribute static route-map STATIC

Finally, the static routes are redistributed into EIGRP with the control defined in the route map.

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### Why This Matters

Modern routing environments require predictability and control. By using route maps:

- You avoid routing loops or metric mismatches.

- You reduce unnecessary route propagation.

- You provide meaningful tags for route filtering or policy enforcement across the network.

This is a significant leap from earlier implementations that lacked the ability to fine-tune route attributes during redistribution. It enables scalable, manageable, and secure network routing policies.