ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

IS-IS

Hi there! So, have you ever played a game of tag with your friends? Well, that's kind of like how IS-IS works.

IS-IS stands for Intermediate System to Intermediate System, which is a fancy way of saying that it helps computers talk to each other in a big network.

Each computer is like a person playing tag, and they need to know who they can tag (or talk to) in the game. So, they use IS-IS to ask all the other computers who they are and who they can talk to.

IS-IS uses something called "routing protocols" to help each computer figure out the best way to talk to each other. It's like if you were playing tag in a big park with lots of different paths - you'd want to know the shortest or quickest way to get to your friend who is also playing tag with you.

Overall, IS-IS helps computers in a big network communicate with each other like a big game of tag, so everyone can talk to each other and work together.