Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

ip ospf cost — interface

Synopsis

ip ospf cost value
no ip ospf cost value

Configures

A default OSPF cost for packets sent out on this interface

Default

10⁸ / bandwidth

Description

This command sets the cost of sending an OSPF packet on an interface to value. By default, Cisco routers use the bandwidth to determine the link’s cost; high-speed links have a lower cost and are therefore more preferred. Other vendors may have alternative methods for cost calculation. This command can be used as needed to set the cost appropriately in a multivendor environment, or to change the preference of two links of the same type. By default, OSPF attempts load balancing across links of the same type; this command changes that behavior by modifying the cost associated with each link.

Example

In this example, there are two FDDI links. The second link has a higher cost, causing the router to prefer the first.

interface fddi0
   ip ospf cost 2
interface fddi1
   ip ospf cost 5