Sanitation networking staff hear EIGRP terms reported distance and feasible distance and ask how that vocabulary differs from OSPF. Which statement is correct?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Reported and feasible distance are EIGRP's measuring sticks inside DUAL — OSPF doesn't speak that dialect. OSPF talks cost and SPF over the link-state database instead. Mixing MST names or RSSI into either protocol's metric story is a wrong turn.
Full Explanation
Sanitation staff hearing reported distance and feasible distance should learn that those terms are EIGRP DUAL metric concepts, whereas OSPF selects paths using cost in an SPF calculation over the LSDB. Reported distance is the metric a neighbor advertises to a destination; feasible distance is the best known metric along the path EIGRP has accepted; DUAL uses these to ensure loop-free successor/feasible-successor selection. OSPF does not use RD/FD vocabulary—it floods link-state information and computes cost-based shortest paths with SPF.
Saying OSPF uses reported and feasible distance as its only SPF inputs incorrectly transplants EIGRP DUAL terms into OSPF. Calling feasible distance an MST region name shared by EIGRP and OSPF confuses Spanning Tree regions with IGP metrics. Replacing metrics with wireless RSSI before installing routes is not how either protocol builds the civic RIB in ENCOR scope.
Exam caveat: know the feasibility condition (RD of a backup path must be less than FD of the successor) as the EIGRP loop-free test; OSPF's loop-free property comes from synchronized LSDBs and SPF, not RD/FD. Do not mix MST terminology into IGP metric discussions. ENCOR contrast questions reward precise vocabulary ownership per protocol.
Operational check: on an EIGRP sanitation router, show ip eigrp topology and identify FD/RD for a prefix; on OSPF, show ip ospf database and ip route cost without expecting FD/RD fields. When training junior engineers, correct mixed vocabulary early so troubleshooting commands match the protocol actually running on the truck-garage routers.