| Communication protocol | |
| Abbreviation | CDP |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Cisco Systems |
| Introduction | 1994 |
| OSI layer | Data link layer |
Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is a proprietary data link layer protocol developed by Cisco Systems in 1994[1] by Keith McCloghrie and Dino Farinacci. It is used to share information about other directly connected Cisco equipment, such as the operating system version and IP address. CDP can also be used for On-Demand Routing, which is a method of including routing information in CDP announcements so that dynamic routing protocols do not need to be used in simple networks.