Appendix F. OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

The following topics are covered in this appendix:

  • OSPF Areas

  • OSPF Convergence

  • OSPF Route Summarization

  • OSPF Authentication

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol developed for Internet Protocol (IP) networks by the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). OSPF was created in the mid-1980s because RIP (Routing Information Protocol) was (and is) incapable of serving large, heterogeneous internetworks.

OSPF has two primary characteristics:

  • The protocol is open, which means that its specification is in the public domain. The OSPF specification is based on Request For Comments (RFC) 1247.

  • OSPF is based on the SPF algorithm. The SPF algorithm in turn ...

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