A loopback interface is a virtual interface in a Cisco router that is always up. It can be used to determine the router's OSPF router ID, allow BGP neighborships to stay up even if physical interfaces fail, and terminate protocols. Loopback interfaces emulate physical interfaces and are created using the "interface loopback" command followed by an IP address assignment.
2. A loopback interface is a logical, virtual interface in a
Cisco Router.
A loopback interface is not a physical interface like Fast
Ethernet interface or Gigabit Ethernet interface.
A loopback interface has many uses. Loopback
interface’s IP Address determines a router’s OSPF
Router ID.
A loopback interface is always up and allows Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP) neighborship between two
routers to stay up even if one of the outbound physical
interface connected between the routers is down.
3. Loopback interfaces are used as the termination points
for Remote Source-Route Bridging (RSRB), and Data-
Link Switching Plus (DLSW+).
Loopback interfaces interfaces are always up and
running and always available, even if other physical
interfaces in the router are down.
A loop back interface is a software interface which can
be used to emulate a physical interface. By default,
router doesn’t have any loopback interfaces (loopback
interfaces are not enabled by default), but they can
easily be created.
4. Loopback interfaces are treated similar to physical interfaces in
a router and we can assign IP addresses to them. The
command syntax to create a loopback interface is shown below.
Router(Config)#int loopback <loopback_interface_number>
Router(Config-if)#ip address <ip_address> <subnet_mask>
5. To create a loopback interface, use the following command in
a Cisco Router.
Router(Config)#int loopback 2
Router(Config-if)#ip address 200.0.0.10 255.255.255.0