internetwork topology when a change takes place. Packets don't know for certain where the
destination route is until convergence finishes. Convergence is a function of the size of the
network and the complexity of the network design. Routing information that needs to propagate
across a few routers obviously converges more quickly than routing information that needs to
propagate across several hundred routers. Convergence is a critical design component for a
time-sensitive protocol or application.
were designed first. For a small network, convergence might take only a few seconds. For larger
networks, convergence can be impacted by several factors:
routing protocols. Route summarization is the way to scale routed internetwork designs. Route
summarization is most effective at the network's concentration points. Summarization reduces
memory usage on routers and routing protocol network traffic. For summarization to work
effectively, the following requirements must be met: