How to configure OSPF for CCNA students

Hello Daniel

You are absolutely correct. Indeed if you wanted to you could issue the single network 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 command to cause all interfaces on the router to participate in OSPF.

The advantage of separating the network commands in OSPF is so you can easily make modifications in the future. Let’s say you had two interfaces with IP addresses 192.168.1.1/24 and 192.168.10.1/24. Now you used the network 192.168.0.0 0.0.255.255 command to have them take part in OSPF.

But at some point in the future, you want to add two more interfaces with IP addresses 192.168.5.0/24 and 192.168.8.0/24 and have them participate only in EIGRP. These interfaces are included in OSPF, so you would have to go back and change the network command to exclude them.

Remember that routing on production routers can involve dozens or even hundreds of networks. Of course, it is easier to use fewer commands to encompass all interfaces involved, but this makes future changes much much harder. So it is best practice to have a network command that corresponds to the subnet of each interface, as this makes all future changes much easier.

I hope this has been helpful!

Laz