Link State Routing Protocol

networking, communications A routing protocol such as

OSPF which permits routers to exchange information with one

another about the reachability of other networks and the cost

or metric to reach the other networks.

The cost/metric is based on number of hops, link speeds,

traffic congestion, and other factors as determined by the

network designer. Link state routers use Dijkstra'salgorithm to calculate shortest (lowest cost) paths, and

normally update other routers with whom they are connected

only when their own routing tables change.

Link state routing is an improvement over distance-vectorrouting protocols such as RIP which normally use only a

single metric (such as hop count) and which exchange all of

their table information with all other routers on a regular

schedule. Link state routing normally requires more

processing but less transmission overhead.

(2000-03-14)