





Network Working Group                                             J. Moy
Request for Comments: 2178                  Cascade Communications Corp.
Obsoletes: 1583                                                July 1997
Category: Standards Track


                             OSPF Version 2

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo documents version 2 of the OSPF protocol. OSPF is a link-
   state routing protocol.  It is designed to be run internal to a
   single Autonomous System.  Each OSPF router maintains an identical
   database describing the Autonomous System's topology.  From this
   database, a routing table is calculated by constructing a shortest-
   path tree.

   OSPF recalculates routes quickly in the face of topological changes,
   utilizing a minimum of routing protocol traffic.  OSPF provides
   support for equal-cost multipath.  An area routing capability is
   provided, enabling an additional level of routing protection and a
   reduction in routing protocol traffic.  In addition, all OSPF routing
   protocol exchanges are authenticated.

   The differences between this memo and RFC 1583 are explained in
   Appendix G. All differences are backward-compatible in nature.
   Implementations of this memo and of RFC 1583 will interoperate.

   Please send comments to ospf@gated.cornell.edu.

Table of Contents

    1        Introduction ........................................... 5
    1.1      Protocol Overview ...................................... 5
    1.2      Definitions of commonly used terms ..................... 6
    1.3      Brief history of link-state routing technology ........  9
    1.4      Organization of this document ......................... 10
    1.5      Acknowledgments ....................................... 11
    2        The link-state database: organization and calculations  11
    2.1      Representation of routers and networks ................ 11



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    2.1.1    Representation of non-broadcast networks .............. 13
    2.1.2    An example link-state database ........................ 14
    2.2      The shortest-path tree ................................ 18
    2.3      Use of external routing information ................... 20
    2.4      Equal-cost multipath .................................. 22
    3        Splitting the AS into Areas ........................... 22
    3.1      The backbone of the Autonomous System ................. 23
    3.2      Inter-area routing .................................... 23
    3.3      Classification of routers ............................. 24
    3.4      A sample area configuration ........................... 25
    3.5      IP subnetting support ................................. 31
    3.6      Supporting stub areas ................................. 32
    3.7      Partitions of areas ................................... 33
    4        Functional Summary .................................... 34
    4.1      Inter-area routing .................................... 35
    4.2      AS external routes .................................... 35
    4.3      Routing protocol packets .............................. 35
    4.4      Basic implementation requirements ..................... 38
    4.5      Optional OSPF capabilities ............................ 39
    5        Protocol data structures .............................. 40
    6        The Area Data Structure ............................... 42
    7        Bringing Up Adjacencies ............................... 44
    7.1      The Hello Protocol .................................... 44
    7.2      The Synchronization of Databases ...................... 45
    7.3      The Designated Router ................................. 46
    7.4      The Backup Designated Router .......................... 47
    7.5      The graph of adjacencies .............................. 48
    8        Protocol Packet Processing ............................ 49
    8.1      Sending protocol packets .............................. 49
    8.2      Receiving protocol packets ............................ 51
    9        The Interface Data Structure .......................... 54
    9.1      Interface states ...................................... 57
    9.2      Events causing interface state changes ................ 59
    9.3      The Interface state machine ........................... 61
    9.4      Electing the Designated Router ........................ 64
    9.5      Sending Hello packets ................................. 66
    9.5.1    Sending Hello packets on NBMA networks ................ 67
    10       The Neighbor Data Structure ........................... 68
    10.1     Neighbor states ....................................... 70
    10.2     Events causing neighbor state changes ................. 75
    10.3     The Neighbor state machine ............................ 76
    10.4     Whether tocome adjacent    ............................ 82
    10.5     Receiving Hello Packets ............................... 83
    10.6     Receiving Database Description Packets ................ 85
    10.7     Receiving Link State Request Packets .................. 88
    10.8     Sending Database Description Packets .................. 89
    10.9     Sending Link State Request Packets .................... 90
    10.10    An Example ............................................ 91



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    11       The Routing Table Structure ........................... 93
    11.1     Routing table lookup .................................. 96
    11.2     Sample routing table, without areas ................... 97
    11.3     Sample routing table, with areas ...................... 97
    12       Link State Advertisements (LSAs) ......................100
    12.1     The LSA Header ........................................100
    12.1.1   LS age ............................................... 101
    12.1.2   Options .............................................. 101
    12.1.3   LS type .............................................. 102
    12.1.4   Link State ID ........................................ 102
    12.1.5   Advertising Router ................................... 104
    12.1.6   LS sequence number ................................... 104
    12.1.7   LS checksum .......................................... 105
    12.2     The link state database .............................. 105
    12.3     Representation of TOS ................................ 106
    12.4     Originating LSAs ..................................... 107
    12.4.1   Router-LSAs .......................................... 110
    12.4.1.1 Describing point-to-point interfaces ................. 112
    12.4.1.2 Describing broadcast and NBMA interfaces ............. 113
    12.4.1.3 Describing virtual links ............................. 113
    12.4.1.4 Describing Point-to-MultiPoint interfaces ............ 114
    12.4.1.5 Examples of router-LSAs .............................. 114
    12.4.2   Network-LSAs ......................................... 116
    12.4.2.1 Examples of network-LSAs ............................. 116
    12.4.3   Summary-LSAs ......................................... 117
    12.4.3.1 Originating summary-LSAs into stub areas ............. 119
    12.4.3.2 Examples of summary-LSAs ............................. 119
    12.4.4   AS-external-LSAs ..................................... 120
    12.4.4.1 Examples of AS-external-LSAs ......................... 121
    13       The Flooding Procedure ............................... 122
    13.1     Determining which LSA is newer ....................... 126
    13.2     Installing LSAs in the database ...................... 127
    13.3     Next step in the flooding procedure .................. 128
    13.4     Receiving self-originated LSAs ....................... 130
    13.5     Sending Link State Acknowledgment packets ............ 131
    13.6     Retransmitting LSAs .................................. 133
    13.7     Receiving link state acknowledgments ................. 134
    14       Aging The Link State Database ........................ 134
    14.1     Premature aging of LSAs .............................. 135
    15       Virtual Links ........................................ 135
    16       Calculation of the routing table ..................... 137
    16.1     Calculating the shortest-path tree for an area ....... 138
    16.1.1   The next hop calculation ............................. 144
    16.2     Calculating the inter-area routes .................... 145
    16.3     Examining transit areas' summary-LSAs ................ 146
    16.4     Calculating AS external routes ....................... 149
    16.4.1   External path preferences ............................ 151
    16.5     Incremental updates -- summary-LSAs .................. 151



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    16.6     Incremental updates -- AS-external-LSAs .............. 152
    16.7     Events generated as a result of routing table changes  153
    16.8     Equal-cost multipath ................................. 154
             Footnotes ............................................ 155
             References ........................................... 158
    A        OSPF data formats .................................... 160
    A.1      Encapsulation of OSPF packets ........................ 160
    A.2      The Options field .................................... 162
    A.3      OSPF Packet Formats .................................. 163
    A.3.1    The OSPF packet header ............................... 164
    A.3.2    The Hello packet ..................................... 166
    A.3.3    The Database Description packet ...................... 168
    A.3.4    The Link State Request packet ........................ 170
    A.3.5    The Link State Update packet ......................... 171
    A.3.6    The Link State Acknowledgment packet ................. 172
    A.4      LSA formats .......................................... 173
    A.4.1    The LSA header ....................................... 174
    A.4.2    Router-LSAs .......................................... 176
    A.4.3    Network-LSAs ......................................... 179
    A.4.4    Summary-LSAs ......................................... 180
    A.4.5    AS-external-LSAs ..................................... 182
    B        Architectural Constants .............................. 184
    C        Configurable Constants ............................... 186
    C.1      Global parameters .................................... 186
    C.2      Area parameters ...................................... 187
    C.3      Router interface parameters .......................... 188
    C.4      Virtual link parameters .............................. 190
    C.5      NBMA network parameters .............................. 191
    C.6      Point-to-MultiPoint network parameters ............... 191
    C.7      Host route parameters ................................ 192
    D        Authentication ....................................... 193
    D.1      Null authentication .................................. 193
    D.2      Simple password authentication ....................... 193
    D.3      Cryptographic authentication ......................... 194
    D.4      Message generation ................................... 196
    D.4.1    Generating Null authentication ....................... 196
    D.4.2    Generating Simple password authentication ............ 197
    D.4.3    Generating Cryptographic authentication .............. 197
    D.5      Message verification ................................. 198
    D.5.1    Verifying Null authentication ........................ 199
    D.5.2    Verifying Simple password authentication ............. 199
    D.5.3    Verifying Cryptographic authentication ............... 199
    E        An algorithm for assigning Link State IDs ............ 201
    F        Multiple interfaces to the same network/subnet ....... 203
    G        Differences from RFC 1583 ............................ 204
    G.1      Enhancements to OSPF authentication .................. 204
    G.2      Addition of Point-to-MultiPoint interface ............ 204
    G.3      Support for overlapping area ranges .................. 205



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    G.4      A modification to the flooding algorithm ............. 206
    G.5      Introduction of the MinLSArrival constant ............ 206
    G.6      Optionally advertising point-to-point links as subnets 207
    G.7      Advertising same external route from multiple areas .. 207
    G.8      Retransmission of initial Database Description packets 209
    G.9      Detecting interface MTU mismatches ................... 209
    G.10     Deleting the TOS routing option ...................... 209
             Security Considerations .............................. 210
             Author's Address ..................................... 211

1.  Introduction

   This document is a specification of the Open Shortest Path First
   (OSPF) TCP/IP internet routing protocol.  OSPF is classified as an
   Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP).  This means that it distributes
   routing information between routers belonging to a single Autonomous
   System.  The OSPF protocol is based on link-state or SPF technology.
   This is a departure from the Bellman-Ford base used by traditional
   TCP/IP internet routing protocols.

   The OSPF protocol was developed by the OSPF working group of the
   Internet Engineering Task Force.  It has been designed expressly for
   the TCP/IP internet environment, including explicit support for CIDR
   and the tagging of externally-derived routing information. OSPF also
   provides for the authentication of routing updates, and utilizes IP
   multicast when sending/receiving the updates.  In addition, much work
   has been done to produce a protocol that responds quickly to topology
   changes, yet involves small amounts of routing protocol traffic.

1.1.  Protocol overview

   OSPF routes IP packets based solely on the destination IP address
   found in the IP packet header. IP packets are routed "as is" -- they
   are not encapsulated in any further protocol headers as they transit
   the Autonomous System. OSPF is a dynamic routing protocol.  It
   quickly detects topological changes in the AS (such as router
   interface failures) and calculates new loop-free routes after a
   period of convergence.  This period of convergence is short and
   involves a minimum of routing traffic.

   In a link-state routing protocol, each router maintains a database
   describing the Autonomous System's topology.  This database is
   referred to as the link-state database. Each participating router has
   an identical database.  Each individual piece of this database is a
   particular router's local state (e.g., the router's usable interfaces
   and reachable neighbors).  The router distributes its local state
   throughout the Autonomous System by flooding.




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   All routers run the exact same algorithm, in parallel. From the
   link-state database, each router constructs a tree of shortest paths
   with itself as root.  This shortest-path tree gives the route to each
   destination in the Autonomous System.  Externally derived routing
   information appears on the tree as leaves.

   When several equal-cost routes to a destination exist, traffic is
   distributed equally among them.  The cost of a route is described by
   a single dimensionless metric.

   OSPF allows sets of networks to be grouped together.  Such a grouping
   is called an area.  The topology of an area is hidden from the rest
   of the Autonomous System.  This information hiding enables a
   significant reduction in routing traffic.  Also, routing within the
   area is determined only by the area's own topology, lending the area
   protection from bad routing data.  An area is a generalization of an
   IP subnetted network.

   OSPF enables the flexible configuration of IP subnets.  Each route
   distributed by OSPF has a destination and mask.  Two different
   subnets of the same IP network number may have different sizes (i.e.,
   different masks).  This is commonly referred to as variable length
   subnetting.  A packet is routed to the best (i.e., longest or most
   specific) match.  Host routes are considered to be subnets whose
   masks are "all ones" (0xffffffff).

   All OSPF protocol exchanges are authenticated.  This means that only
   trusted routers can participate in the Autonomous System's routing.
   A variety of authentication schemes can be used; in fact, separate
   authentication schemes can be configured for each IP subnet.

   Externally derived routing data (e.g., routes learned from an
   Exterior Gateway Protocol such as BGP; see [Ref23]) is advertised
   throughout the Autonomous System.  This externally derived data is
   kept separate from the OSPF protocol's link state data.  Each
   external route can also be tagged by the advertising router, enabling
   the passing of additional information between routers on the boundary
   of the Autonomous System.

1.2.  Definitions of commonly used terms

   This section provides definitions for terms that have a specific
   meaning to the OSPF protocol and that are used throughout the text.
   The reader unfamiliar with the Internet Protocol Suite is referred to
   [Ref13] for an introduction to IP.






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   Router
      A level three Internet Protocol packet switch.  Formerly called a
      gateway in much of the IP literature.

   Autonomous System
      A group of routers exchanging routing information via a common
      routing protocol.  Abbreviated as AS.

   Interior Gateway Protocol
      The routing protocol spoken by the routers belonging to an
      Autonomous system. Abbreviated as IGP.  Each Autonomous System has
      a single IGP.  Separate Autonomous Systems may be running
      different IGPs.

   Router ID
      A 32-bit number assigned to each router running the OSPF protocol.
      This number uniquely identifies the router within an Autonomous
      System.

   Network
      In this memo, an IP network/subnet/supernet.  It is possible for
      one physical network to be assigned multiple IP network/subnet
      numbers.  We consider these to be separate networks.  Point-to-
      point physical networks are an exception - they are considered a
      single network no matter how many (if any at all) IP
      network/subnet numbers are assigned to them.

   Network mask
      A 32-bit number indicating the range of IP addresses residing on a
      single IP network/subnet/supernet.  This specification displays
      network masks as hexadecimal numbers.  For example, the network
      mask for a class C IP network is displayed as 0xffffff00.  Such a
      mask is often displayed elsewhere in the literature as
      255.255.255.0.

   Point-to-point networks
      A network that joins a single pair of routers.  A 56Kb serial line
      is an example of a point-to-point network.













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   Broadcast networks
      Networks supporting many (more than two) attached routers,
      together with the capability to address a single physical message
      to all of the attached routers (broadcast).  Neighboring routers
      are discovered dynamically on these nets using OSPF's Hello
      Protocol.  The Hello Protocol itself takes advantage of the
      broadcast capability.  The OSPF protocol makes further use of
      multicast capabilities, if they exist.  Each pair of routers on a
      broadcast network is assumed to be able to communicate directly.
      An ethernet is an example of a broadcast network.

   Non-broadcast networks
      Networks supporting many (more than two) routers, but having no
      broadcast capability.  Neighboring routers are maintained on these
      nets using OSPF's Hello Protocol. However, due to the lack of
      broadcast capability, some configuration information may be
      necessary to aid in the discovery of neighbors. On non-broadcast
      networks, OSPF protocol packets that are normally multicast need
      to be sent to each neighboring router, in turn. An X.25 Public
      Data Network (PDN) is an example of a non-broadcast network.

      OSPF runs in one of two modes over non-broadcast networks.  The
      first mode, called non-broadcast multi-access or NBMA, simulates
      the operation of OSPF on a broadcast network. The second mode,
      called Point-to-MultiPoint, treats the non-broadcast network as a
      collection of point-to-point links.  Non-broadcast networks are
      referred to as NBMA networks or Point-to-MultiPoint networks,
      depending on OSPF's mode of operation over the network.

   Interface
      The connection between a router and one of its attached networks.
      An interface has state information associated with it, which is
      obtained from the underlying lower level protocols and the routing
      protocol itself.  An interface to a network has associated with it
      a single IP address and mask (unless the network is an unnumbered
      point-to-point network).  An interface is sometimes also referred
      to as a link.

   Neighboring routers
      Two routers that have interfaces to a common network.  Neighbor
      relationships are maintained by, and usually dynamically
      discovered by, OSPF's Hello Protocol.

   Adjacency
      A relationship formed between selected neighboring routers for the
      purpose of exchanging routing information.  Not every pair of
      neighboring routers become adjacent.




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   Link state advertisement
      Unit of data describing the local state of a router or network.
      For a router, this includes the state of the router's interfaces
      and adjacencies.  Each link state advertisement is flooded
      throughout the routing domain. The collected link state
      advertisements of all routers and networks forms the protocol's
      link state database.  Throughout this memo, link state
      advertisement is abbreviated as LSA.

   Hello Protocol
      The part of the OSPF protocol used to establish and maintain
      neighbor relationships.  On broadcast networks the Hello Protocol
      can also dynamically discover neighboring routers.

   Flooding
      The part of the OSPF protocol that distributes and synchronizes
      the link-state database between OSPF routers.

   Designated Router
      Each broadcast and NBMA network that has at least two attached
      routers has a Designated Router.  The Designated Router generates
      an LSA for the network and has other special responsibilities in
      the running of the protocol.  The Designated Router is elected by
      the Hello Protocol.

      The Designated Router concept enables a reduction in the number of
      adjacencies required on a broadcast or NBMA network.  This in turn
      reduces the amount of routing protocol traffic and the size of the
      link-state database.

   Lower-level protocols
      The underlying network access protocols that provide services to
      the Internet Protocol and in turn the OSPF protocol.  Examples of
      these are the X.25 packet and frame levels for X.25 PDNs, and the
      ethernet data link layer for ethernets.

1.3.  Brief history of link-state routing technology

   OSPF is a link state routing protocol.  Such protocols are also
   referred to in the literature as SPF-based or distributed-database
   protocols.  This section gives a brief description of the
   developments in link-state technology that have influenced the OSPF
   protocol.

   The first link-state routing protocol was developed for use in the
   ARPANET packet switching network.  This protocol is described in
   [Ref3].  It has formed the starting point for all other link-state
   protocols.  The homogeneous ARPANET environment, i.e., single-vendor



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   packet switches connected by synchronous serial lines, simplified the
   design and implementation of the original protocol.

   Modifications to this protocol were proposed in [Ref4].  These
   modifications dealt with increasing the fault tolerance of the
   routing protocol through, among other things, adding a checksum to
   the LSAs (thereby detecting database corruption).  The paper also
   included means for reducing the routing traffic overhead in a link-
   state protocol.  This was accomplished by introducing mechanisms
   which enabled the interval between LSA originations to be increased
   by an order of magnitude.

   A link-state algorithm has also been proposed for use as an ISO IS-IS
   routing protocol.  This protocol is described in [Ref2].  The
   protocol includes methods for data and routing traffic reduction when
   operating over broadcast networks.  This is accomplished by election
   of a Designated Router for each broadcast network, which then
   originates an LSA for the network.

   The OSPF Working Group of the IETF has extended this work in
   developing the OSPF protocol.  The Designated Router concept has been
   greatly enhanced to further reduce the amount of routing traffic
   required.  Multicast capabilities are utilized for additional routing
   bandwidth reduction.  An area routing scheme has been developed
   enabling information hiding/protection/reduction.  Finally, the
   algorithms have been tailored for efficient operation in TCP/IP
   internets.

1.4.  Organization of this document

   The first three sections of this specification give a general
   overview of the protocol's capabilities and functions.  Sections 4-16
   explain the protocol's mechanisms in detail.  Packet formats,
   protocol constants and configuration items are specified in the
   appendices.

   Labels such as HelloInterval encountered in the text refer to
   protocol constants.  They may or may not be configurable.
   Architectural constants are summarized in Appendix B.  Configurable
   constants are summarized in Appendix C.

   The detailed specification of the protocol is presented in terms of
   data structures.  This is done in order to make the explanation more
   precise.  Implementations of the protocol are required to support the
   functionality described, but need not use the precise data structures
   that appear in this memo.





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1.5.  Acknowledgments

   The author would like to thank Ran Atkinson, Fred Baker, Jeffrey
   Burgan, Rob Coltun, Dino Farinacci, Vince Fuller, Phanindra
   Jujjavarapu, Milo Medin, Tom Pusateri, Kannan Varadhan, Zhaohui Zhang
   and the rest of the OSPF Working Group for the ideas and support they
   have given to this project.

   The OSPF Point-to-MultiPoint interface is based on work done by Fred
   Baker.

   The OSPF Cryptographic Authentication option was developed by Fred
   Baker and Ran Atkinson.

2.  The Link-state Database: organization and calculations

   The following subsections describe the organization of OSPF's link-
   state database, and the routing calculations that are performed on
   the database in order to produce a router's routing table.

2.1.  Representation of routers and networks

   The Autonomous System's link-state database describes a directed
   graph.  The vertices of the graph consist of routers and networks.  A
   graph edge connects two routers when they are attached via a physical
   point-to-point network.  An edge connecting a router to a network
   indicates that the router has an interface on the network. Networks
   can be either transit or stub networks. Transit networks are those
   capable of carrying data traffic that is neither locally originated
   nor locally destined. A transit network is represented by a graph
   vertex having both incoming and outgoing edges. A stub network's
   vertex has only incoming edges.

   The neighborhood of each network node in the graph depends on the
   network's type (point-to-point, broadcast, NBMA or Point-to-
   MultiPoint) and the number of routers having an interface to the
   network.  Three cases are depicted in Figure 1a.  Rectangles indicate
   routers.  Circles and oblongs indicate networks.  Router names are
   prefixed with the letters RT and network names with the letter N.
   Router interface names are prefixed by the letter I.  Lines between
   routers indicate point-to-point networks.  The left side of the
   figure shows networks with their connected routers, with the
   resulting graphs shown on the right.








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                                                  **FROM**

                                           *      |RT1|RT2|
                +---+Ia    +---+           *   ------------
                |RT1|------|RT2|           T   RT1|   | X |
                +---+    Ib+---+           O   RT2| X |   |
                                           *    Ia|   | X |
                                           *    Ib| X |   |

                    Physical point-to-point networks

                                                  **FROM**
                      +---+                *
                      |RT7|                *      |RT7| N3|
                      +---+                T   ------------
                        |                  O   RT7|   |   |
            +----------------------+       *    N3| X |   |
                       N3                  *

                             Stub networks

                +---+      +---+
                |RT3|      |RT4|              |RT3|RT4|RT5|RT6|N2 |
                +---+      +---+        *  ------------------------
                  |    N2    |          *  RT3|   |   |   |   | X |
            +----------------------+    T  RT4|   |   |   |   | X |
                  |          |          O  RT5|   |   |   |   | X |
                +---+      +---+        *  RT6|   |   |   |   | X |
                |RT5|      |RT6|        *   N2| X | X | X | X |   |
                +---+      +---+

                       Broadcast or NBMA networks

                   Figure 1a: Network map components

   Networks and routers are represented by vertices.  An edge connects
   Vertex A to Vertex B iff the intersection of Column A and Row B is
   marked with an X.

   The top of Figure 1a shows two routers connected by a point-to-point
   link. In the resulting link-state database graph, the two router
   vertices are directly connected by a pair of edges, one in each
   direction. Interfaces to point-to-point networks need not be assigned
   IP addresses.  When interface addresses are assigned, they are
   modelled as stub links, with each router advertising a stub
   connection to the other router's interface address. Optionally, an IP





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   subnet can be assigned to the point-to-point network. In this case,
   both routers advertise a stub link to the IP subnet, instead of
   advertising each others' IP interface addresses.

   The middle of Figure 1a shows a network with only one attached router
   (i.e., a stub network). In this case, the network appears on the end
   of a stub connection in the link-state database's graph.

   When multiple routers are attached to a broadcast network, the link-
   state database graph shows all routers bidirectionally connected to
   the network vertex. This is pictured at the bottom of Figure 1a.

   Each network (stub or transit) in the graph has an IP address and
   associated network mask.  The mask indicates the number of nodes on
   the network.  Hosts attached directly to routers (referred to as host
   routes) appear on the graph as stub networks.  The network mask for a
   host route is always 0xffffffff, which indicates the presence of a
   single node.

2.1.1. Representation of non-broadcast networks

   As mentioned previously, OSPF can run over non-broadcast networks in
   one of two modes: NBMA or Point-to-MultiPoint.  The choice of mode
   determines the way that the Hello protocol and flooding work over the
   non-broadcast network, and the way that the network is represented in
   the link-state database.

   In NBMA mode, OSPF emulates operation over a broadcast network: a
   Designated Router is elected for the NBMA network, and the Designated
   Router originates an LSA for the network. The graph representation
   for broadcast networks and NBMA networks is identical. This
   representation is pictured in the middle of Figure 1a.

   NBMA mode is the most efficient way to run OSPF over non-broadcast
   networks, both in terms of link-state database size and in terms of
   the amount of routing protocol traffic.  However, it has one
   significant restriction: it requires all routers attached to the NBMA
   network to be able to communicate directly. This restriction may be
   met on some non-broadcast networks, such as an ATM subnet utilizing
   SVCs. But it is often not met on other non-broadcast networks, such
   as PVC-only Frame Relay networks. On non-broadcast networks where not
   all routers can communicate directly you can break the non-broadcast
   network into logical subnets, with the routers on each subnet being
   able to communicate directly, and then run each separate subnet as an
   NBMA network (see [Ref15]). This however requires quite a bit of
   administrative overhead, and is prone to misconfiguration. It is
   probably better to run such a non-broadcast network in Point-to-
   Multipoint mode.



Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 13]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   In Point-to-MultiPoint mode, OSPF treats all router-to-router
   connections over the non-broadcast network as if they were point-to-
   point links. No Designated Router is elected for the network, nor is
   there an LSA generated for the network. In fact, a vertex for the
   Point-to-MultiPoint network does not appear in the graph of the
   link-state database.

   Figure 1b illustrates the link-state database representation of a
   Point-to-MultiPoint network. On the left side of the figure, a
   Point-to-MultiPoint network is pictured. It is assumed that all
   routers can communicate directly, except for routers RT4 and RT5. I3
   though I6 indicate the routers' IP interface addresses on the Point-
   to-MultiPoint network.  In the graphical representation of the link-
   state database, routers that can communicate directly over the
   Point-to-MultiPoint network are joined by bidirectional edges, and
   each router also has a stub connection to its own IP interface
   address (which is in contrast to the representation of real point-
   to-point links; see Figure 1a).

   On some non-broadcast networks, use of Point-to-MultiPoint mode and
   data-link protocols such as Inverse ARP (see [Ref14]) will allow
   autodiscovery of OSPF neighbors even though broadcast support is not
   available.

2.1.2.  An example link-state database

   Figure 2 shows a sample map of an Autonomous System.  The rectangle
   labelled H1 indicates a host, which has a SLIP connection to Router
   RT12. Router RT12 is therefore advertising a host route.  Lines
   between routers indicate physical point-to-point networks.  The only
   point-to-point network that has been assigned interface addresses is
   the one joining Routers RT6 and RT10.  Routers RT5 and RT7 have BGP
   connections to other Autonomous Systems.  A set of BGP-learned routes
   have been displayed for both of these routers.

   A cost is associated with the output side of each router interface.
   This cost is configurable by the system administrator.  The lower the
   cost,the more likely the interface is to be used to forward data
   traffic.  Costs are also associated with the externally derived
   routing data (e.g., the BGP-learned routes).

   The directed graph resulting from the map in Figure 2 is depicted in
   Figure 3.  Arcs are labelled with the cost of the corresponding
   router output interface. Arcs having no labelled cost have a cost of
   0.  Note that arcs leading from networks to routers always have cost
   0; they are significant nonetheless.  Note also that the externally
   derived routing data appears on the graph as stubs.




Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 14]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


                                                  **FROM**
                +---+      +---+
                |RT3|      |RT4|              |RT3|RT4|RT5|RT6|
                +---+      +---+        *  --------------------
                I3|    N2    |I4        *  RT3|   | X | X | X |
            +----------------------+    T  RT4| X |   |   | X |
                I5|          |I6        O  RT5| X |   |   | X |
                +---+      +---+        *  RT6| X | X | X |   |
                |RT5|      |RT6|        *   I3| X |   |   |   |
                +---+      +---+            I4|   | X |   |   |
                                            I5|   |   | X |   |
                                            I6|   |   |   | X |


                   Figure 1b: Network map components
                      Point-to-MultiPoint networks

          All routers can communicate directly over N2, except
             routers RT4 and RT5. I3 through I6 indicate IP
                          interface addresses































Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 15]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


                 +
                 | 3+---+                     N12      N14
               N1|--|RT1|\ 1                    \ N13 /
                 |  +---+ \                     8\ |8/8
                 +         \ ____                 \|/
                            /    \   1+---+8    8+---+6
                           *  N3  *---|RT4|------|RT5|--------+
                            \____/    +---+      +---+        |
                  +         /   |                  |7         |
                  | 3+---+ /    |                  |          |
                N2|--|RT2|/1    |1                 |6         |
                  |  +---+    +---+8            6+---+        |
                  +           |RT3|--------------|RT6|        |
                              +---+              +---+        |
                                |2               Ia|7         |
                                |                  |          |
                           +---------+             |          |
                               N4                  |          |
                                                   |          |
                                                   |          |
                       N11                         |          |
                   +---------+                     |          |
                        |                          |          |    N12
                        |3                         |          |6 2/
                      +---+                        |        +---+/
                      |RT9|                        |        |RT7|---N15
                      +---+                        |        +---+ 9
                        |1                   +     |          |1
                       _|__                  |   Ib|5       __|_
                      /    \      1+----+2   |  3+----+1   /    \
                     *  N9  *------|RT11|----|---|RT10|---*  N6  *
                      \____/       +----+    |   +----+    \____/
                        |                    |                |
                        |1                   +                |1
             +--+   10+----+                N8              +---+
             |H1|-----|RT12|                                |RT8|
             +--+SLIP +----+                                +---+
                        |2                                    |4
                        |                                     |
                   +---------+                            +--------+
                       N10                                    N7

                  Figure 2: A sample Autonomous System








Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 16]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


                                **FROM**

                 |RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|
                 |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10|11|12|N3|N6|N8|N9|
              ----- ---------------------------------------------
              RT1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |  |  |  |
              RT2|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |  |  |  |
              RT3|  |  |  |  |  |6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |  |  |  |
              RT4|  |  |  |  |8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |  |  |  |
              RT5|  |  |  |8 |  |6 |6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
              RT6|  |  |8 |  |7 |  |  |  |  |5 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
              RT7|  |  |  |  |6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |  |  |
          *   RT8|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |  |  |
          *   RT9|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |
          T  RT10|  |  |  |  |  |7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |0 |  |
          O  RT11|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |0 |
          *  RT12|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |
          *    N1|3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               N2|  |3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               N3|1 |1 |1 |1 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               N4|  |  |2 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               N6|  |  |  |  |  |  |1 |1 |  |1 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               N7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |4 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               N8|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |3 |2 |  |  |  |  |  |
               N9|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |1 |  |1 |1 |  |  |  |  |
              N10|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |2 |  |  |  |  |
              N11|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
              N12|  |  |  |  |8 |  |2 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
              N13|  |  |  |  |8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
              N14|  |  |  |  |8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
              N15|  |  |  |  |  |  |9 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
               H1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |10|  |  |  |  |


                 Figure 3: The resulting directed graph

           Networks and routers are represented by vertices.
          An edge of cost X connects Vertex A to Vertex B iff
            the intersection of Column A and Row B is marked
                               with an X.

   The link-state database is pieced together from LSAs generated by the
   routers.  In the associated graphical representation, the
   neighborhood of each router or transit network is represented in a
   single, separate LSA.  Figure 4 shows these LSAs graphically. Router
   RT12 has an interface to two broadcast networks and a SLIP line to a
   host.  Network N6 is a broadcast network with three attached routers.
   The cost of all links from Network N6 to its attached routers is 0.



Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 17]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   Note that the LSA for Network N6 is actually generated by one of the
   network's attached routers: the router that has been elected
   Designated Router for the network.

2.2.  The shortest-path tree

   When no OSPF areas are configured, each router in the Autonomous
   System has an identical link-state database, leading to an identical
   graphical representation.  A router generates its routing table from
   this graph by calculating a tree of shortest paths with the router
   itself as root.  Obviously, the shortest- path tree depends on the
   router doing the calculation.  The shortest-path tree for Router RT6
   in our example is depicted in Figure 5.

   The tree gives the entire path to any destination network or host.
   However, only the next hop to the destination is used in the
   forwarding process.   Note also that the best route to any router has
   also been calculated.  For the processing of external data, we note
   the next hop and distance to any router advertising external routes.
   The resulting routing table for Router RT6 is pictured in Table 2.
   Note that there is a separate route for each end of a numbered
   point-to-point network (in this case, the serial line between Routers
   RT6 and RT10).


                     **FROM**                       **FROM**

                  |RT12|N9|N10|H1|                 |RT9|RT11|RT12|N9|
           *  --------------------          *  ----------------------
           *  RT12|    |  |   |  |          *   RT9|   |    |    |0 |
           T    N9|1   |  |   |  |          T  RT11|   |    |    |0 |
           O   N10|2   |  |   |  |          O  RT12|   |    |    |0 |
           *    H1|10  |  |   |  |          *    N9|   |    |    |  |
           *                                *
                RT12's router-LSA              N9's network-LSA

               Figure 4: Individual link state components

           Networks and routers are represented by vertices.
          An edge of cost X connects Vertex A to Vertex B iff
            the intersection of Column A and Row B is marked
                               with an X.









Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 18]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


                                RT6(origin)
                    RT5 o------------o-----------o Ib
                       /|\    6      |\     7
                     8/8|8\          | \
                     /  |  \        6|  \
                    o   |   o        |   \7
                   N12  o  N14       |    \
                       N13        2  |     \
                            N4 o-----o RT3  \
                                    /        \    5
                                  1/     RT10 o-------o Ia
                                  /           |\
                       RT4 o-----o N3        3| \1
                                /|            |  \ N6     RT7
                               / |         N8 o   o---------o
                              /  |            |   |        /|
                         RT2 o   o RT1        |   |      2/ |9
                            /    |            |   |RT8   /  |
                           /3    |3      RT11 o   o     o   o
                          /      |            |   |    N12 N15
                      N2 o       o N1        1|   |4
                                              |   |
                                           N9 o   o N7
                                             /|
                                            / |
                        N11      RT9       /  |RT12
                         o--------o-------o   o--------o H1
                             3                |   10
                                              |2
                                              |
                                              o N10


                 Figure 5: The SPF tree for Router RT6

  Edges that are not marked with a cost have a cost of of zero (these
 are network-to-router links). Routes to networks N12-N15 are external
             information that is considered in Section 2.3













Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 19]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


           Destination   Next  Hop   Distance
           __________________________________
           N1            RT3         10
           N2            RT3         10
           N3            RT3         7
           N4            RT3         8
           Ib            *           7
           Ia            RT10        12
           N6            RT10        8
           N7            RT10        12
           N8            RT10        10
           N9            RT10        11
           N10           RT10        13
           N11           RT10        14
           H1            RT10        21
           __________________________________
           RT5           RT5         6
           RT7           RT10        8

    Table 2: The portion of Router RT6's routing table listing local
                             destinations.

   Routes to networks belonging to other AS'es (such as N12) appear as
   dashed lines on the shortest path tree in Figure 5.  Use of this
   externally derived routing information is considered in the next
   section.

2.3.  Use of external routing information

   After the tree is created the external routing information is
   examined.  This external routing information may originate from
   another routing protocol such as BGP, or be statically configured
   (static routes).  Default routes can also be included as part of the
   Autonomous System's external routing information.

   External routing information is flooded unaltered throughout the AS.
   In our example, all the routers in the Autonomous System know that
   Router RT7 has two external routes, with metrics 2 and 9.

   OSPF supports two types of external metrics.  Type 1 external metrics
   are expressed in the same units as OSPF interface cost (i.e., in
   terms of the link state metric).  Type 2 external metrics are an
   order of magnitude larger; any Type 2 metric is considered greater
   than the cost of any path internal to the AS.  Use of Type 2 external
   metrics assumes that routing between AS'es is the major cost of
   routing a packet, and eliminates the need for conversion of external
   costs to internal link state metrics.




Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 20]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   As an example of Type 1 external metric processing, suppose that the
   Routers RT7 and RT5 in Figure 2 are advertising Type 1 external
   metrics.  For each advertised external route, the total cost from
   Router RT6 is calculated as the sum of the external route's
   advertised cost and the distance from Router RT6 to the advertising
   router.  When two routers are advertising the same external
   destination, RT6 picks the advertising router providing the minimum
   total cost. RT6 then sets the next hop to the external destination
   equal to the next hop that would be used when routing packets to the
   chosen advertising router.

   In Figure 2, both Router RT5 and RT7 are advertising an external
   route to destination Network N12.  Router RT7 is preferred since it
   is advertising N12 at a distance of 10 (8+2) to Router RT6, which is
   better than Router RT5's 14 (6+8).  Table 3 shows the entries that
   are added to the routing table when external routes are examined:



                 Destination   Next  Hop   Distance
                 __________________________________
                 N12           RT10        10
                 N13           RT5         14
                 N14           RT5         14
                 N15           RT10        17


          Table 3: The portion of Router RT6's routing table
                     listing external destinations.

   Processing of Type 2 external metrics is simpler.  The AS boundary
   router advertising the smallest external metric is chosen, regardless
   of the internal distance to the AS boundary router.  Suppose in our
   example both Router RT5 and Router RT7 were advertising Type 2
   external routes.  Then all traffic destined for Network N12 would be
   forwarded to Router RT7, since 2 < 8. When several equal-cost Type 2
   routes exist, the internal distance to the advertising routers is
   used to break the tie.

   Both Type 1 and Type 2 external metrics can be present in the AS at
   the same time.  In that event, Type 1 external metrics always take
   precedence.

   This section has assumed that packets destined for external
   destinations are always routed through the advertising AS boundary
   router.  This is not always desirable.  For example, suppose in
   Figure 2 there is an additional router attached to Network N6, called
   Router RTX. Suppose further that RTX does not participate in OSPF



Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 21]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   routing, but does exchange BGP information with the AS boundary
   router RT7.  Then, Router RT7 would end up advertising OSPF external
   routes for all destinations that should be routed to RTX.  An extra
   hop will sometimes be introduced if packets for these destinations
   need always be routed first to Router RT7 (the advertising router).

   To deal with this situation, the OSPF protocol allows an AS boundary
   router to specify a "forwarding address" in its AS- external-LSAs. In
   the above example, Router RT7 would specify RTX's IP address as the
   "forwarding address" for all those destinations whose packets should
   be routed directly to RTX.

   The "forwarding address" has one other application.  It enables
   routers in the Autonomous System's interior to function as "route
   servers".  For example, in Figure 2 the router RT6 could become a
   route server, gaining external routing information through a
   combination of static configuration and external routing protocols.
   RT6 would then start advertising itself as an AS boundary router, and
   would originate a collection of OSPF AS-external-LSAs.  In each AS-
   external-LSA, Router RT6 would specify the correct Autonomous System
   exit point to use for the destination through appropriate setting of
   the LSA's "forwarding address" field.

2.4.  Equal-cost multipath

   The above discussion has been simplified by considering only a single
   route to any destination.  In reality, if multiple equal-cost routes
   to a destination exist, they are all discovered and used.  This
   requires no conceptual changes to the algorithm, and its discussion
   is postponed until we consider the tree-building process in more
   detail.

   With equal cost multipath, a router potentially has several available
   next hops towards any given destination.

3.  Splitting the AS into Areas

   OSPF allows collections of contiguous networks and hosts to be
   grouped together.  Such a group, together with the routers having
   interfaces to any one of the included networks, is called an area.
   Each area runs a separate copy of the basic link-state routing
   algorithm. This means that each area has its own link-state database
   and corresponding graph, as explained in the previous section.

   The topology of an area is invisible from the outside of the area.
   Conversely, routers internal to a given area know nothing of the
   detailed topology external to the area.  This isolation of knowledge
   enables the protocol to effect a marked reduction in routing traffic



Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 22]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   as compared to treating the entire Autonomous System as a single
   link-state domain.

   With the introduction of areas, it is no longer true that all routers
   in the AS have an identical link-state database.  A router actually
   has a separate link-state database for each area it is connected to.
   (Routers connected to multiple areas are called area border routers).
   Two routers belonging to the same area have, for that area, identical
   area link-state databases.

   Routing in the Autonomous System takes place on two levels, depending
   on whether the source and destination of a packet reside in the same
   area (intra-area routing is used) or different areas (inter-area
   routing is used).  In intra-area routing, the packet is routed solely
   on information obtained within the area; no routing information
   obtained from outside the area can be used.  This protects intra-area
   routing from the injection of bad routing information.  We discuss
   inter-area routing in Section 3.2.

3.1.  The backbone of the Autonomous System

   The OSPF backbone is the special OSPF Area 0 (often written as Area
   0.0.0.0, since OSPF Area ID's are typically formatted as IP
   addresses). The OSPF backbone always contains all area border
   routers. The backbone is responsible for distributing routing
   information between non-backbone areas. The backbone must be
   contiguous. However, it need not be physically contiguous; backbone
   connectivity can be established/maintained through the configuration
   of virtual links.

   Virtual links can be configured between any two backbone routers that
   have an interface to a common non-backbone area.  Virtual links
   belong to the backbone.  The protocol treats two routers joined by a
   virtual link as if they were connected by an unnumbered point-to-
   point backbone network.  On the graph of the backbone, two such
   routers are joined by arcs whose costs are the intra-area distances
   between the two routers.  The routing protocol traffic that flows
   along the virtual link uses intra-area routing only.

3.2.  Inter-area routing

   When routing a packet between two non-backbone areas the backbone is
   used.  The path that the packet will travel can be broken up into
   three contiguous pieces: an intra-area path from the source to an
   area border router, a backbone path between the source and
   destination areas, and then another intra-area path to the
   destination.  The algorithm finds the set of such paths that have the
   smallest cost.



Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 23]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   Looking at this another way, inter-area routing can be pictured as 
   forcing a star configuration on the Autonomous System, with the
   backbone as hub and each of the non-backbone areas as spokes.

   The topology of the backbone dictates the backbone paths used between
   areas.  The topology of the backbone can be enhanced by adding
   virtual links.  This gives the system administrator some control over
   the routes taken by inter-area traffic.

   The correct area border router to use as the packet exits the source
   area is chosen in exactly the same way routers advertising external
   routes are chosen.  Each area border router in an area summarizes for
   the area its cost to all networks external to the area.  After the
   SPF tree is calculated for the area, routes to all inter-area
   destinations are calculated by examining the summaries of the area
   border routers.

3.3.  Classification of routers

   Before the introduction of areas, the only OSPF routers having a
   specialized function were those advertising external routing
   information, such as Router RT5 in Figure 2.  When the AS is split
   into OSPF areas, the routers are further divided according to
   function into the following four overlapping categories:


   Internal routers
      A router with all directly connected networks belonging to the
      same area. These routers run a single copy of the basic routing
      algorithm.

   Area border routers
      A router that attaches to multiple areas.  Area border routers run
      multiple copies of the basic algorithm, one copy for each attached
      area. Area border routers condense the topological information of
      their attached areas for distribution to the backbone.  The
      backbone in turn distributes the information to the other areas.

   Backbone routers
      A router that has an interface to the backbone area.  This
      includes all routers that interface to more than one area (i.e.,
      area border routers).  However, backbone routers do not have to be
      area border routers.  Routers with all interfaces connecting to
      the backbone area are supported.







Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 24]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


   AS boundary routers
      A router that exchanges routing information with routers belonging
      to other Autonomous Systems.  Such a router advertises AS external
      routing information throughout the Autonomous System.  The paths
      to each AS boundary router are known by every router in the AS.
      This classification is completely independent of the previous
      classifications: AS boundary routers may be internal or area
      border routers, and may or may not participate in the backbone.

3.4.  A sample area configuration

   Figure 6 shows a sample area configuration.  The first area consists
   of networks N1-N4, along with their attached routers RT1-RT4.  The
   second area consists of networks N6-N8, along with their attached
   routers RT7, RT8, RT10 and RT11.  The third area consists of networks
   N9-N11 and Host H1, along with their attached routers RT9, RT11 and
   RT12.  The third area has been configured so that networks N9-N11 and
   Host H1 will all be grouped into a single route, when advertised
   external to the area (see Section 3.5 for more details).

   In Figure 6, Routers RT1, RT2, RT5, RT6, RT8, RT9 and RT12 are
   internal routers.  Routers RT3, RT4, RT7, RT10 and RT11 are area
   border routers.  Finally, as before, Routers RT5 and RT7 are AS
   boundary routers.

   Figure 7 shows the resulting link-state database for the Area 1.  The
   figure completely describes that area's intra-area routing.
























Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 25]

RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


             ...........................
             .   +                     .
             .   | 3+---+              .      N12      N14
             . N1|--|RT1|\ 1           .        \ N13 /
             .   |  +---+ \            .        8\ |8/8
             .   +         \ ____      .          \|/
             .              /    \   1+---+8    8+---+6
             .             *  N3  *---|RT4|------|RT5|--------+
             .              \____/    +---+      +---+        |
             .    +         /      \   .           |7         |
             .    | 3+---+ /        \  .           |          |
             .  N2|--|RT2|/1        1\ .           |6         |
             .    |  +---+            +---+8    6+---+        |
             .    +                   |RT3|------|RT6|        |
             .                        +---+      +---+        |
             .                      2/ .         Ia|7         |
             .                      /  .           |          |
             .             +---------+ .           |          |
             .Area 1           N4      .           |          |
             ...........................           |          |
          ..........................               |          |
          .            N11         .               |          |
          .        +---------+     .               |          |
          .             |          .               |          |    N12
          .             |3         .             Ib|5         |6 2/
          .           +---+        .             +----+     +---+/
          .           |RT9|        .    .........|RT10|.....|RT7|---N15.
          .           +---+        .    .        +----+     +---+ 9    .
          .             |1         .    .    +  /3    1\      |1       .
          .            _|__        .    .    | /        \   __|_       .
          .           /    \      1+----+2   |/          \ /    \      .
          .          *  N9  *------|RT11|----|            *  N6  *     .
          .           \____/       +----+    |             \____/      .
          .             |          .    .    |                |        .
          .             |1         .    .    +                |1       .
          .  +--+   10+----+       .    .   N8              +---+      .
          .  |H1|-----|RT12|       .    .                   |RT8|      .
          .  +--+SLIP +----+       .    .                   +---+      .
          .             |2         .    .                     |4       .
          .             |          .    .                     |        .
          .        +---------+     .    .                 +--------+   .
          .            N10         .    .                     N7       .
          .                        .    .Area 2                        .
          .Area 3                  .    ................................
          ..........................

               Figure 6: A sample OSPF area configuration




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   It also shows the complete view of the internet for the two internal
   routers RT1 and RT2.  It is the job of the area border routers, RT3
   and RT4, to advertise into Area 1 the distances to all destinations
   external to the area.  These are indicated in Figure 7 by the dashed
   stub routes.  Also, RT3 and RT4 must advertise into Area 1 the
   location of the AS boundary routers RT5 and RT7.  Finally, AS-
   external-LSAs from RT5 and RT7 are flooded throughout the entire AS,
   and in particular throughout Area 1.  These LSAs are included in Area
   1's database, and yield routes to Networks N12-N15.

   Routers RT3 and RT4 must also summarize Area 1's topology for
   distribution to the backbone.  Their backbone LSAs are shown in Table
   4.  These summaries show which networks are contained in Area 1
   (i.e., Networks N1-N4), and the distance to these networks from the
   routers RT3 and RT4 respectively.

   The link-state database for the backbone is shown in Figure 8.  The
   set of routers pictured are the backbone routers.  Router RT11 is a
   backbone router because it belongs to two areas.  In order to make
   the backbone connected, a virtual link has been configured between
   Routers R10 and R11.

   The area border routers RT3, RT4, RT7, RT10 and RT11 condense the
   routing information of their attached non-backbone areas for
   distribution via the backbone; these are the dashed stubs that appear
   in Figure 8.  Remember that the third area has been configured to
   condense Networks N9-N11 and Host H1 into a single route.  This
   yields a single dashed line for networks N9-N11 and Host H1 in Figure
   8.  Routers RT5 and RT7 are AS boundary routers; their externally
   derived information also appears on the graph in Figure 8 as stubs.


                     Network   RT3 adv.   RT4 adv.
                     _____________________________
                     N1        4          4
                     N2        4          4
                     N3        1          1
                     N4        2          3

              Table 4: Networks advertised to the backbone
                        by Routers RT3 and RT4.










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                          |RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|
                          |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |7 |N3|
                       ----- -------------------
                       RT1|  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |
                       RT2|  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |
                       RT3|  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |
                   *   RT4|  |  |  |  |  |  |0 |
                   *   RT5|  |  |14|8 |  |  |  |
                   T   RT7|  |  |20|14|  |  |  |
                   O    N1|3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
                   *    N2|  |3 |  |  |  |  |  |
                   *    N3|1 |1 |1 |1 |  |  |  |
                        N4|  |  |2 |  |  |  |  |
                     Ia,Ib|  |  |20|27|  |  |  |
                        N6|  |  |16|15|  |  |  |
                        N7|  |  |20|19|  |  |  |
                        N8|  |  |18|18|  |  |  |
                 N9-N11,H1|  |  |29|36|  |  |  |
                       N12|  |  |  |  |8 |2 |  |
                       N13|  |  |  |  |8 |  |  |
                       N14|  |  |  |  |8 |  |  |
                       N15|  |  |  |  |  |9 |  |

                      Figure 7: Area 1's Database.

           Networks and routers are represented by vertices.
          An edge of cost X connects Vertex A to Vertex B iff
            the intersection of Column A and Row B is marked
                               with an X.






















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                                                  **FROM**

                            |RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT|RT
                            |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |10|11|
                         ------------------------
                         RT3|  |  |  |6 |  |  |  |
                         RT4|  |  |8 |  |  |  |  |
                         RT5|  |8 |  |6 |6 |  |  |
                         RT6|8 |  |7 |  |  |5 |  |
                         RT7|  |  |6 |  |  |  |  |
                     *  RT10|  |  |  |7 |  |  |2 |
                     *  RT11|  |  |  |  |  |3 |  |
                     T    N1|4 |4 |  |  |  |  |  |
                     O    N2|4 |4 |  |  |  |  |  |
                     *    N3|1 |1 |  |  |  |  |  |
                     *    N4|2 |3 |  |  |  |  |  |
                          Ia|  |  |  |  |  |5 |  |
                          Ib|  |  |  |7 |  |  |  |
                          N6|  |  |  |  |1 |1 |3 |
                          N7|  |  |  |  |5 |5 |7 |
                          N8|  |  |  |  |4 |3 |2 |
                   N9-N11,H1|  |  |  |  |  |  |11|
                         N12|  |  |8 |  |2 |  |  |
                         N13|  |  |8 |  |  |  |  |
                         N14|  |  |8 |  |  |  |  |
                         N15|  |  |  |  |9 |  |  |

                   Figure 8: The backbone's database.

           Networks and routers are represented by vertices.
          An edge of cost X connects Vertex A to Vertex B iff
            the intersection of Column A and Row B is marked
                               with an X.

   The backbone enables the exchange of summary information between area
   border routers.  Every area border router hears the area summaries
   from all other area border routers.  It then forms a picture of the
   distance to all networks outside of its area by examining the
   collected LSAs, and adding in the backbone distance to each
   advertising router.

   Again using Routers RT3 and RT4 as an example, the procedure goes as
   follows: They first calculate the SPF tree for the backbone.  This
   gives the distances to all other area border routers.  Also noted are
   the distances to networks (Ia and Ib) and AS boundary routers (RT5
   and RT7) that belong to the backbone.  This calculation is shown in
   Table 5.




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   Next, by looking at the area summaries from these area border
   routers, RT3 and RT4 can determine the distance to all networks
   outside their area.  These distances are then advertised internally
   to the area by RT3 and RT4.  The advertisements that Router RT3 and
   RT4 will make into Area 1 are shown in Table 6.  Note that Table 6
   assumes that an area range has been configured for the backbone which
   groups Ia and Ib into a single LSA.

   The information imported into Area 1 by Routers RT3 and RT4 enables
   an internal router, such as RT1, to choose an area border router
   intelligently.  Router RT1 would use RT4 for traffic to Network N6,
   RT3 for traffic to Network N10, and would load share between the two
   for traffic to Network N8.

                              dist  from   dist  from
                              RT3          RT4
                   __________________________________
                   to  RT3    *            21
                   to  RT4    22           *
                   to  RT7    20           14
                   to  RT10   15           22
                   to  RT11   18           25
                   __________________________________
                   to  Ia     20           27
                   to  Ib     15           22
                   __________________________________
                   to  RT5    14           8
                   to  RT7    20           14

                 Table 5: Backbone distances calculated
                        by Routers RT3 and RT4.


                   Destination   RT3 adv.   RT4 adv.
                   _________________________________
                   Ia,Ib         20         27
                   N6            16         15
                   N7            20         19
                   N8            18         18
                   N9-N11,H1     29         36
                   _________________________________
                   RT5           14         8
                   RT7           20         14

              Table 6: Destinations advertised into Area 1
                        by Routers RT3 and RT4.





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   Router RT1 can also determine in this manner the shortest path to the
   AS boundary routers RT5 and RT7.  Then, by looking at RT5 and RT7's
   AS-external-LSAs, Router RT1 can decide between RT5 or RT7 when
   sending to a destination in another Autonomous System (one of the
   networks N12-N15).

   Note that a failure of the line between Routers RT6 and RT10 will
   cause the backbone to become disconnected.  Configuring a virtual
   link between Routers RT7 and RT10 will give the backbone more
   connectivity and more resistance to such failures.

3.5.  IP subnetting support

   OSPF attaches an IP address mask to each advertised route.  The mask
   indicates the range of addresses being described by the particular
   route.  For example, a summary-LSA for the destination 128.185.0.0
   with a mask of 0xffff0000 actually is describing a single route to
   the collection of destinations 128.185.0.0 - 128.185.255.255.
   Similarly, host routes are always advertised with a mask of
   0xffffffff, indicating the presence of only a single destination.

   Including the mask with each advertised destination enables the
   implementation of what is commonly referred to as variable-length
   subnetting.  This means that a single IP class A, B, or C network
   number can be broken up into many subnets of various sizes. For
   example, the network 128.185.0.0 could be broken up into 62
   variable-sized subnets: 15 subnets of size 4K, 15 subnets of size
   256, and 32 subnets of size 8.  Table 7 shows some of the resulting
   network addresses together with their masks.


                  Network address   IP address mask   Subnet size
                  _______________________________________________
                  128.185.16.0      0xfffff000        4K
                  128.185.1.0       0xffffff00        256
                  128.185.0.8       0xfffffff8        8


                   Table 7: Some sample subnet sizes.


   There are many possible ways of dividing up a class A, B, and C
   network into variable sized subnets.  The precise procedure for doing
   so is beyond the scope of this specification.  This specification
   however establishes the following guideline: When an IP packet is
   forwarded, it is always forwarded to the network that is the best
   match for the packet's destination.  Here best match is synonymous
   with the longest or most specific match.  For example, the default



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   route with destination of 0.0.0.0 and mask 0x00000000 is always a
   match for every IP destination.  Yet it is always less specific than
   any other match.  Subnet masks must be assigned so that the best
   match for any IP destination is unambiguous.

   Attaching an address mask to each route also enables the support of
   IP supernetting. For example, a single physical network segment could
   be assigned the [address,mask] pair [192.9.4.0,0xfffffc00]. The
   segment would then be single IP network, containing addresses from
   the four consecutive class C network numbers 192.9.4.0 through
   192.9.7.0. Such addressing is now becoming commonplace with the
   advent of CIDR (see [Ref10]).

   In order to get better aggregation at area boundaries, area address
   ranges can be employed (see Section C.2 for more details).  Each
   address range is defined as an [address,mask] pair.  Many separate
   networks may then be contained in a single address range, just as a
   subnetted network is composed of many separate subnets.  Area border
   routers then summarize the area contents (for distribution to the
   backbone) by advertising a single route for each address range.  The
   cost of the route is the maximum cost to any of the networks falling
   in the specified range.

   For example, an IP subnetted network might be configured as a single
   OSPF area.  In that case, a single address range could be configured:
   a class A, B, or C network number along with its natural IP mask.
   Inside the area, any number of variable sized subnets could be
   defined.  However, external to the area a single route for the entire
   subnetted network would be distributed, hiding even the fact that the
   network is subnetted at all.  The cost of this route is the maximum
   of the set of costs to the component subnets.

3.6.  Supporting stub areas

   In some Autonomous Systems, the majority of the link-state database
   may consist of AS-external-LSAs.  An OSPF AS-external-LSA is usually
   flooded throughout the entire AS.  However, OSPF allows certain areas
   to be configured as "stub areas".  AS-external-LSAs are not flooded
   into/throughout stub areas; routing to AS external destinations in
   these areas is based on a (per-area) default only.  This reduces the
   link-state database size, and therefore the memory requirements, for
   a stub area's internal routers.

   In order to take advantage of the OSPF stub area support, default
   routing must be used in the stub area.  This is accomplished as
   follows.  One or more of the stub area's area border routers must
   advertise a default route into the stub area via summary-LSAs.  These
   summary defaults are flooded throughout the stub area, but no



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   further.  (For this reason these defaults pertain only to the
   particular stub area).  These summary default routes will be used for
   any destination that is not explicitly reachable by an intra-area or
   inter-area path (i.e., AS external destinations).

   An area can be configured as a stub when there is a single exit point
   from the area, or when the choice of exit point need not be made on a
   per-external-destination basis.  For example, Area 3 in Figure 6
   could be configured as a stub area, because all external traffic must
   travel though its single area border router RT11.  If Area 3 were
   configured as a stub, Router RT11 would advertise a default route for
   distribution inside Area 3 (in a summary-LSA), instead of flooding
   the AS-external-LSAs for Networks N12-N15 into/throughout the area.

   The OSPF protocol ensures that all routers belonging to an area agree
   on whether the area has been configured as a stub.  This guarantees
   that no confusion will arise in the flooding of AS-external-LSAs.

   There are a couple of restrictions on the use of stub areas.  Virtual
   links cannot be configured through stub areas.  In addition, AS
   boundary routers cannot be placed internal to stub areas.

3.7.  Partitions of areas

   OSPF does not actively attempt to repair area partitions.  When an
   area becomes partitioned, each component simply becomes a separate
   area.  The backbone then performs routing between the new areas.
   Some destinations reachable via intra-area routing before the
   partition will now require inter-area routing.

   However, in order to maintain full routing after the partition, an
   address range must not be split across multiple components of the
   area partition. Also, the backbone itself must not partition.  If it
   does, parts of the Autonomous System will become unreachable.
   Backbone partitions can be repaired by configuring virtual links (see
   Section 15).

   Another way to think about area partitions is to look at the
   Autonomous System graph that was introduced in Section 2.  Area IDs
   can be viewed as colors for the graph's edges.[1] Each edge of the
   graph connects to a network, or is itself a point-to-point network.
   In either case, the edge is colored with the network's Area ID.

   A group of edges, all having the same color, and interconnected by
   vertices, represents an area.  If the topology of the Autonomous
   System is intact, the graph will have several regions of color, each
   color being a distinct Area ID.




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   When the AS topology changes, one of the areas may become
   partitioned.  The graph of the AS will then have multiple regions of
   the same color (Area ID).  The routing in the Autonomous System will
   continue to function as long as these regions of same color are
   connected by the single backbone region.

4.  Functional Summary

   A separate copy of OSPF's basic routing algorithm runs in each area.
   Routers having interfaces to multiple areas run multiple copies of
   the algorithm.  A brief summary of the routing algorithm follows.

   When a router starts, it first initializes the routing protocol data
   structures.  The router then waits for indications from the lower-
   level protocols that its interfaces are functional.

   A router then uses the OSPF's Hello Protocol to acquire neighbors.
   The router sends Hello packets to its neighbors, and in turn receives
   their Hello packets.  On broadcast and point-to-point networks, the
   router dynamically detects its neighboring routers by sending its
   Hello packets to the multicast address AllSPFRouters.  On non-
   broadcast networks, some configuration information may be necessary
   in order to discover neighbors.  On broadcast and NBMA networks the
   Hello Protocol also elects a Designated router for the network.

   The router will attempt to form adjacencies with some of its newly
   acquired neighbors.  Link-state databases are synchronized between
   pairs of adjacent routers. On broadcast and NBMA networks, the
   Designated Router determines which routers should become adjacent.

   Adjacencies control the distribution of routing information.  Routing
   updates are sent and received only on adjacencies.

   A router periodically advertises its state, which is also called link
   state.  Link state is also advertised when a router's state changes.
   A router's adjacencies are reflected in the contents of its LSAs.
   This relationship between adjacencies and link state allows the
   protocol to detect dead routers in a timely fashion.

   LSAs are flooded throughout the area.  The flooding algorithm is
   reliable, ensuring that all routers in an area have exactly the same
   link-state database.  This database consists of the collection of
   LSAs originated by each router belonging to the area.  From this
   database each router calculates a shortest-path tree, with itself as
   root.  This shortest-path tree in turn yields a routing table for the
   protocol.





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4.1.  Inter-area routing

   The previous section described the operation of the protocol within a
   single area.  For intra-area routing, no other routing information is
   pertinent.  In order to be able to route to destinations outside of
   the area, the area border routers inject additional routing
   information into the area.  This additional information is a
   distillation of the rest of the Autonomous System's topology.

   This distillation is accomplished as follows: Each area border router
   is by definition connected to the backbone.  Each area border router
   summarizes the topology of its attached non-backbone areas for
   transmission on the backbone, and hence to all other area border
   routers. An area border router then has complete topological
   information concerning the backbone, and the area summaries from each
   of the other area border routers.  From this information, the router
   calculates paths to all inter-area destinations.  The router then
   advertises these paths into its attached areas.  This enables the
   area's internal routers to pick the best exit router when forwarding
   traffic inter-area destinations.

4.2.  AS external routes

   Routers that have information regarding other Autonomous Systems can
   flood this information throughout the AS.  This external routing
   information is distributed verbatim to every participating router.
   There is one exception: external routing information is not flooded
   into "stub" areas (see Section 3.6).

   To utilize external routing information, the path to all routers
   advertising external information must be known throughout the AS
   (excepting the stub areas).  For that reason, the locations of these
   AS boundary routers are summarized by the (non-stub) area border
   routers.

4.3.  Routing protocol packets

   The OSPF protocol runs directly over IP, using IP protocol 89.  OSPF
   does not provide any explicit fragmentation/reassembly support.  When
   fragmentation is necessary, IP fragmentation/reassembly is used.
   OSPF protocol packets have been designed so that large protocol
   packets can generally be split into several smaller protocol packets.
   This practice is recommended; IP fragmentation should be avoided
   whenever possible.

   Routing protocol packets should always be sent with the IP TOS field
   set to 0.  If at all possible, routing protocol packets should be
   given preference over regular IP data traffic, both when being sent



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   and received.  As an aid to accomplishing this, OSPF protocol packets
   should have their IP precedence field set to the value Internetwork
   Control (see [Ref5]).

   All OSPF protocol packets share a common protocol header that is
   described in Appendix A.  The OSPF packet types are listed below in
   Table 8.  Their formats are also described in Appendix A.


     Type   Packet  name
           Protocol  function
     __________________________________________________________
     1      Hello                  Discover/maintain  neighbors
     2      Database Description   Summarize database contents
     3      Link State Request     Database download
     4      Link State Update      Database update
     5      Link State Ack         Flooding acknowledgment


                      Table 8: OSPF packet types.

   OSPF's Hello protocol uses Hello packets to discover and maintain
   neighbor relationships.  The Database Description and Link State
   Request packets are used in the forming of adjacencies.  OSPF's
   reliable update mechanism is implemented by the Link State Update and
   Link State Acknowledgment packets.

   Each Link State Update packet carries a set of new link state
   advertisements (LSAs) one hop further away from their point of
   origination.  A single Link State Update packet may contain the LSAs
   of several routers.  Each LSA is tagged with the ID of the
   originating router and a checksum of its link state contents.  Each
   LSA also has a type field; the different types of OSPF LSAs are
   listed below in Table 9.

   OSPF routing packets (with the exception of Hellos) are sent only
   over adjacencies.  This means that all OSPF protocol packets travel a
   single IP hop, except those that are sent over virtual adjacencies.
   The IP source address of an OSPF protocol packet is one end of a
   router adjacency, and the IP destination address is either the other
   end of the adjacency or an IP multicast address.










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        LS     LSA                LSA description
        type   name
        ________________________________________________________
        1      Router-LSAs        Originated by all routers.
                                  This LSA describes
                                  the collected states of the
                                  router's interfaces to an
                                  area. Flooded throughout a
                                  single area only.
        ________________________________________________________
        2      Network-LSAs       Originated for broadcast
                                  and NBMA networks by
                                  the Designated Router. This
                                  LSA contains the
                                  list of routers connected
                                  to the network. Flooded
                                  throughout a single area only.
        ________________________________________________________
        3,4    Summary-LSAs       Originated by area border
                                  routers, and flooded through-
                                  out the LSA's associated
                                  area. Each summary-LSA
                                  describes a route to a
                                  destination outside the area,
                                  yet still inside the AS
                                  (i.e., an inter-area route).
                                  Type 3 summary-LSAs describe
                                  routes to networks. Type 4
                                  summary-LSAs describe
                                  routes to AS boundary routers.
        ________________________________________________________
        5      AS-external-LSAs   Originated by AS boundary
                                  routers, and flooded through-
                                  out the AS. Each
                                  AS-external-LSA describes
                                  a route to a destination in
                                  another Autonomous System.
                                  Default routes for the AS can
                                  also be described by
                                  AS-external-LSAs.

            Table 9: OSPF link state advertisements (LSAs).









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4.4.  Basic implementation requirements

   An implementation of OSPF requires the following pieces of system
   support:

   Timers
      Two different kind of timers are required. The first kind, called
      "single shot timers", fire once and cause a protocol event to be
      processed.  The second kind, called "interval timers", fire at
      continuous intervals.  These are used for the sending of packets
      at regular intervals.  A good example of this is the regular
      broadcast of Hello packets. The granularity of both kinds of
      timers is one second.

      Interval timers should be implemented to avoid drift.  In some
      router implementations, packet processing can affect timer
      execution.  When multiple routers are attached to a single
      network, all doing broadcasts, this can lead to the
      synchronization of routing packets (which should be avoided).  If
      timers cannot be implemented to avoid drift, small random amounts
      should be added to/subtracted from the interval timer at each
      firing.

   IP multicast
      Certain OSPF packets take the form of IP multicast datagrams.
      Support for receiving and sending IP multicast datagrams, along
      with the appropriate lower-level protocol support, is required.
      The IP multicast datagrams used by OSPF never travel more than one
      hop. For this reason, the ability to forward IP multicast
      datagrams is not required.  For information on IP multicast, see
      [Ref7].

   Variable-length subnet support
      The router's IP protocol support must include the ability to
      divide a single IP class A, B, or C network number into many
      subnets of various sizes.  This is commonly called variable-length
      subnetting; see Section 3.5 for details.

   IP supernetting support
      The router's IP protocol support must include the ability to
      aggregate contiguous collections of IP class A, B, and C networks
      into larger quantities called supernets.  Supernetting has been
      proposed as one way to improve the scaling of IP routing in the
      worldwide Internet. For more information on IP supernetting, see
      [Ref10].






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   Lower-level protocol support
      The lower level protocols referred to here are the network access
      protocols, such as the Ethernet data link layer.  Indications must
      be passed from these protocols to OSPF as the network interface
      goes up and down.  For example, on an ethernet it would be
      valuable to know when the ethernet transceiver cable becomes
      unplugged.

   Non-broadcast lower-level protocol support
      On non-broadcast networks, the OSPF Hello Protocol can be aided by
      providing an indication when an attempt is made to send a packet
      to a dead or non-existent router.  For example, on an X.25 PDN a
      dead neighboring router may be indicated by the reception of a
      X.25 clear with an appropriate cause and diagnostic, and this
      information would be passed to OSPF.

   List manipulation primitives
      Much of the OSPF functionality is described in terms of its
      operation on lists of LSAs.  For example, the collection of LSAs
      that will be retransmitted to an adjacent router until
      acknowledged are described as a list.  Any particular LSA may be
      on many such lists.  An OSPF implementation needs to be able to
      manipulate these lists, adding and deleting constituent LSAs as
      necessary.

   Tasking support
      Certain procedures described in this specification invoke other
      procedures.  At times, these other procedures should be executed
      in-line, that is, before the current procedure is finished.  This
      is indicated in the text by instructions to execute a procedure.
      At other times, the other procedures are to be executed only when
      the current procedure has finished.  This is indicated by
      instructions to schedule a task.

4.5.  Optional OSPF capabilities

   The OSPF protocol defines several optional capabilities.  A router
   indicates the optional capabilities that it supports in its OSPF
   Hello packets, Database Description packets and in its LSAs.  This
   enables routers supporting a mix of optional capabilities to coexist
   in a single Autonomous System.

   Some capabilities must be supported by all routers attached to a
   specific area.  In this case, a router will not accept a neighbor's
   Hello Packet unless there is a match in reported capabilities (i.e.,
   a capability mismatch prevents a neighbor relationship from forming).
   An example of this is the ExternalRoutingCapability (see below).




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   Other capabilities can be negotiated during the Database Exchange
   process.  This is accomplished by specifying the optional
   capabilities in Database Description packets.  A capability mismatch
   with a neighbor in this case will result in only a subset of the link
   state database being exchanged between the two neighbors.

   The routing table build process can also be affected by the
   presence/absence of optional capabilities.  For example, since the
   optional capabilities are reported in LSAs, routers incapable of
   certain functions can be avoided when building the shortest path
   tree.

   The OSPF optional capabilities defined in this memo are listed below.
   See Section A.2 for more information.

   ExternalRoutingCapability
      Entire OSPF areas can be configured as "stubs" (see Section 3.6).
      AS-external-LSAs will not be flooded into stub areas.  This
      capability is represented by the E-bit in the OSPF Options field
      (see Section A.2).  In order to ensure consistent configuration of
      stub areas, all routers interfacing to such an area must have the
      E-bit clear in their Hello packets (see Sections 9.5 and 10.5).

5.  Protocol Data Structures

   The OSPF protocol is described herein in terms of its operation on
   various protocol data structures.  The following list comprises the
   top-level OSPF data structures.  Any initialization that needs to be
   done is noted.  OSPF areas, interfaces and neighbors also have
   associated data structures that are described later in this
   specification.

   Router ID
      A 32-bit number that uniquely identifies this router in the AS.
      One possible implementation strategy would be to use the smallest
      IP interface address belonging to the router. If a router's OSPF
      Router ID is changed, the router's OSPF software should be
      restarted before the new Router ID takes effect.  In this case the
      router should flush its self-originated LSAs from the routing
      domain (see Section 14.1) before restarting, or they will persist
      for up to MaxAge minutes.

   Area structures
      Each one of the areas to which the router is connected has its own
      data structure.  This data structure describes the working of the
      basic OSPF algorithm.  Remember that each area runs a separate
      copy of the basic OSPF algorithm.




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   Backbone (area) structure
      The OSPF backbone area is responsible for the dissemination of
      inter-area routing information.

   Virtual links configured
      The virtual links configured with this router as one endpoint.  In
      order to have configured virtual links, the router itself must be
      an area border router.  Virtual links are identified by the Router
      ID of the other endpoint -- which is another area border router.
      These two endpoint routers must be attached to a common area,
      called the virtual link's Transit area.  Virtual links are part of
      the backbone, and behave as if they were unnumbered point-to-point
      networks between the two routers.  A virtual link uses the intra-
      area routing of its Transit area to forward packets.  Virtual
      links are brought up and down through the building of the
      shortest-path trees for the Transit area.

   List of external routes
      These are routes to destinations external to the Autonomous
      System, that have been gained either through direct experience
      with another routing protocol (such as BGP), or through
      configuration information, or through a combination of the two
      (e.g., dynamic external information to be advertised by OSPF with
      configured metric). Any router having these external routes is
      called an AS boundary router.  These routes are advertised by the
      router into the OSPF routing domain via AS-external-LSAs.

   List of AS-external-LSAs
      Part of the link-state database.  These have originated from the
      AS boundary routers.  They comprise routes to destinations
      external to the Autonomous System.  Note that, if the router is
      itself an AS boundary router, some of these AS-external-LSAs have
      been self-originated.

   The routing table
      Derived from the link-state database.  Each entry in the routing
      table is indexed by a destination, and contains the destination's
      cost and a set of paths to use in forwarding packets to the
      destination. A path is described by its type and next hop.  For
      more information, see Section 11.











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   Figure 9 shows the collection of data structures present in a typical
   router.  The router pictured is RT10, from the map in Figure 6.  Note
   that Router RT10 has a virtual link configured to Router RT11, with
   Area 2 as the link's Transit area.  This is indicated by the dashed
   line in Figure 9.  When the virtual link becomes active, through the
   building of the shortest path tree for Area 2, it becomes an
   interface to the backbone (see the two backbone interfaces depicted
   in Figure 9).


                              +----+
                              |RT10|------+
                              +----+       \+-------------+
                             /      \       |Routing Table|
                            /        \      +-------------+
                           /          \
              +------+    /            \    +--------+
              |Area 2|---+              +---|Backbone|
              +------+***********+          +--------+
             /        \           *        /          \
            /          \           *      /            \
       +---------+  +---------+    +------------+       +------------+
       |Interface|  |Interface|    |Virtual Link|       |Interface Ib|
       |  to N6  |  |  to N8  |    |   to RT11  |       +------------+
       +---------+  +---------+    +------------+             |
           /  \           |               |                   |
          /    \          |               |                   |
   +--------+ +--------+  |        +-------------+      +------------+
   |Neighbor| |Neighbor|  |        |Neighbor RT11|      |Neighbor RT6|
   |  RT8   | |  RT7   |  |        +-------------+      +------------+
   +--------+ +--------+  |
                          |
                     +-------------+
                     |Neighbor RT11|
                     +-------------+


                Figure 9: Router RT10's Data structures

6.  The Area Data Structure

   The area data structure contains all the information used to run the
   basic OSPF routing algorithm. Each area maintains its own link-state
   database. A network belongs to a single area, and a router interface
   connects to a single area. Each router adjacency also belongs to a
   single area.





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   The OSPF backbone is the special OSPF area responsible for
   disseminating inter-area routing information.

   The area link-state database consists of the collection of router-
   LSAs, network-LSAs and summary-LSAs that have originated from the
   area's routers.  This information is flooded throughout a single area
   only. The list of AS-external-LSAs (see Section 5) is also considered
   to be part of each area's link-state database.

   Area ID
      A 32-bit number identifying the area. The Area ID of 0.0.0.0 is
      reserved for the backbone.

   List of area address ranges
      In order to aggregate routing information at area boundaries, area
      address ranges can be employed. Each address range is specified by
      an [address,mask] pair and a status indication of either Advertise
      or DoNotAdvertise (see Section 12.4.3).

   Associated router interfaces
      This router's interfaces connecting to the area.  A router
      interface belongs to one and only one area (or the backbone).  For
      the backbone area this list includes all the virtual links.  A
      virtual link is identified by the Router ID of its other endpoint;
      its cost is the cost of the shortest intra-area path through the
      Transit area that exists between the two routers.

   List of router-LSAs
      A router-LSA is generated by each router in the area.  It
      describes the state of the router's interfaces to the area.

   List of network-LSAs
      One network-LSA is generated for each transit broadcast and NBMA
      network in the area.  A network-LSA describes the set of routers
      currently connected to the network.

   List of summary-LSAs
      Summary-LSAs originate from the area's area border routers.  They
      describe routes to destinations internal to the Autonomous System,
      yet external to the area (i.e., inter-area destinations).

   Shortest-path tree
      The shortest-path tree for the area, with this router itself as
      root.  Derived from the collected router-LSAs and network-LSAs by
      the Dijkstra algorithm (see Section 16.1).






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   TransitCapability
      This parameter indicates whether the area can carry data traffic
      that neither originates nor terminates in the area itself. This
      parameter is calculated when the area's shortest-path tree is
      built (see Section 16.1, where TransitCapability is set to TRUE if
      and only if there are one or more fully adjacent virtual links
      using the area as Transit area), and is used as an input to a
      subsequent step of the routing table build process (see Section
      16.3). When an area's TransitCapability is set to TRUE, the area
      is said to be a "transit area".

   ExternalRoutingCapability
      Whether AS-external-LSAs will be flooded into/throughout the area.
      This is a configurable parameter.  If AS-external-LSAs are
      excluded from the area, the area is called a "stub". Within stub
      areas, routing to AS external destinations will be based solely on
      a default summary route.  The backbone cannot be configured as a
      stub area.  Also, virtual links cannot be configured through stub
      areas.  For more information, see Section 3.6.

   StubDefaultCost
      If the area has been configured as a stub area, and the router
      itself is an area border router, then the StubDefaultCost
      indicates the cost of the default summary-LSA that the router
      should advertise into the area. See Section 12.4.3 for more
      information.

   Unless otherwise specified, the remaining sections of this document
   refer to the operation of the OSPF protocol within a single area.

7.  Bringing Up Adjacencies

   OSPF creates adjacencies between neighboring routers for the purpose
   of exchanging routing information. Not every two neighboring routers
   will become adjacent.  This section covers the generalities involved
   in creating adjacencies.  For further details consult Section 10.

7.1.  The Hello Protocol

   The Hello Protocol is responsible for establishing and maintaining
   neighbor relationships.  It also ensures that communication between
   neighbors is bidirectional.  Hello packets are sent periodically out
   all router interfaces.  Bidirectional communication is indicated when
   the router sees itself listed in the neighbor's Hello Packet.  On
   broadcast and NBMA networks, the Hello Protocol elects a Designated
   Router for the network.





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   The Hello Protocol works differently on broadcast networks, NBMA
   networks and Point-to-MultiPoint networks.  On broadcast networks,
   each router advertises itself by periodically multicasting Hello
   Packets.  This allows neighbors to be discovered dynamically.  These
   Hello Packets contain the router's view of the Designated Router's
   identity, and the list of routers whose Hello Packets have been seen
   recently.

   On NBMA networks some configuration information may be necessary for
   the operation of the Hello Protocol.  Each router that may
   potentially become Designated Router has a list of all other routers
   attached to the network.  A router, having Designated Router
   potential, sends Hello Packets to all other potential Designated
   Routers when its interface to the NBMA network first becomes
   operational.  This is an attempt to find the Designated Router for
   the network.  If the router itself is elected Designated Router, it
   begins sending Hello Packets to all other routers attached to the
   network.

   On Point-to-MultiPoint networks, a router sends Hello Packets to all
   neighbors with which it can communicate directly. These neighbors may
   be discovered dynamically through a protocol such as Inverse ARP (see
   [Ref14]), or they may be configured.

   After a neighbor has been discovered, bidirectional communication
   ensured, and (if on a broadcast or NBMA network) a Designated Router
   elected, a decision is made regarding whether or not an adjacency
   should be formed with the neighbor (see Section 10.4). If an
   adjacency is to be formed, the first step is to synchronize the
   neighbors' link-state databases.  This is covered in the next
   section.

7.2.  The Synchronization of Databases

   In a link-state routing algorithm, it is very important for all
   routers' link-state databases to stay synchronized.  OSPF simplifies
   this by requiring only adjacent routers to remain synchronized.  The
   synchronization process begins as soon as the routers attempt to
   bring up the adjacency.  Each router describes its database by
   sending a sequence of Database Description packets to its neighbor.
   Each Database Description Packet describes a set of LSAs belonging to
   the router's database.  When the neighbor sees an LSA that is more
   recent than its own database copy, it makes a note that this newer
   LSA should be requested.

   This sending and receiving of Database Description packets is called
   the "Database Exchange Process".  During this process, the two
   routers form a master/slave relationship.  Each Database Description



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   Packet has a sequence number.  Database Description Packets sent by
   the master (polls) are acknowledged by the slave through echoing of
   the sequence number.  Both polls and their responses contain
   summaries of link state data.  The master is the only one allowed to
   retransmit Database Description Packets.  It does so only at fixed
   intervals, the length of which is the configured per-interface
   constant RxmtInterval.

   Each Database Description contains an indication that there are more
   packets to follow --- the M-bit.  The Database Exchange Process is
   over when a router has received and sent Database Description Packets
   with the M-bit off.

   During and after the Database Exchange Process, each router has a
   list of those LSAs for which the neighbor has more up-to-date
   instances.  These LSAs are requested in Link State Request Packets.
   Link State Request packets that are not satisfied are retransmitted
   at fixed intervals of time RxmtInterval.  When the Database
   Description Process has completed and all Link State Requests have
   been satisfied, the databases are deemed synchronized and the routers
   are marked fully adjacent.  At this time the adjacency is fully
   functional and is advertised in the two routers' router-LSAs.

   The adjacency is used by the flooding procedure as soon as the
   Database Exchange Process begins.  This simplifies database
   synchronization, and guarantees that it finishes in a predictable
   period of time.

7.3.  The Designated Router

   Every broadcast and NBMA network has a Designated Router.  The
   Designated Router performs two main functions for the routing
   protocol:

   o   The Designated Router originates a network-LSA on behalf of
       the network.  This LSA lists the set of routers (including
       the Designated Router itself) currently attached to the
       network.  The Link State ID for this LSA (see Section
       12.1.4) is the IP interface address of the Designated
       Router.  The IP network number can then be obtained by using
       the network's subnet/network mask.

   o   The Designated Router becomes adjacent to all other routers
       on the network.  Since the link state databases are
       synchronized across adjacencies (through adjacency bring-up
       and then the flooding procedure), the Designated Router
       plays a central part in the synchronization process.




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   The Designated Router is elected by the Hello Protocol.  A router's
   Hello Packet contains its Router Priority, which is configurable on a
   per-interface basis.  In general, when a router's interface to a
   network first becomes functional, it checks to see whether there is
   currently a Designated Router for the network.  If there is, it
   accepts that Designated Router, regardless of its Router Priority.
   (This makes it harder to predict the identity of the Designated
   Router, but ensures that the Designated Router changes less often.
   See below.)  Otherwise, the router itself becomes Designated Router
   if it has the highest Router Priority on the network.  A more
   detailed (and more accurate) description of Designated Router
   election is presented in Section 9.4.

   The Designated Router is the endpoint of many adjacencies.  In order
   to optimize the flooding procedure on broadcast networks, the
   Designated Router multicasts its Link State Update Packets to the
   address AllSPFRouters, rather than sending separate packets over each
   adjacency.

   Section 2 of this document discusses the directed graph
   representation of an area.  Router nodes are labelled with their
   Router ID.  Transit network nodes are actually labelled with the IP
   address of their Designated Router.  It follows that when the
   Designated Router changes, it appears as if the network node on the
   graph is replaced by an entirely new node.  This will cause the
   network and all its attached routers to originate new LSAs.  Until
   the link-state databases again converge, some temporary loss of
   connectivity may result.  This may result in ICMP unreachable
   messages being sent in response to data traffic.  For that reason,
   the Designated Router should change only infrequently.  Router
   Priorities should be configured so that the most dependable router on
   a network eventually becomes Designated Router.

7.4.  The Backup Designated Router

   In order to make the transition to a new Designated Router smoother,
   there is a Backup Designated Router for each broadcast and NBMA
   network.  The Backup Designated Router is also adjacent to all
   routers on the network, and becomes Designated Router when the
   previous Designated Router fails.  If there were no Backup Designated
   Router, when a new Designated Router became necessary, new
   adjacencies would have to be formed between the new Designated Router
   and all other routers attached to the network.  Part of the adjacency
   forming process is the synchronizing of link-state databases, which
   can potentially take quite a long time.  During this time, the
   network would not be available for transit data traffic.  The Backup
   Designated obviates the need to form these adjacencies, since they
   already exist.  This means the period of disruption in transit



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   traffic lasts only as long as it takes to flood the new LSAs (which
   announce the new Designated Router).

   The Backup Designated Router does not generate a network-LSA for the
   network.  (If it did, the transition to a new Designated Router would
   be even faster.  However, this is a tradeoff between database size
   and speed of convergence when the Designated Router disappears.)

   The Backup Designated Router is also elected by the Hello Protocol.
   Each Hello Packet has a field that specifies the Backup Designated
   Router for the network.

   In some steps of the flooding procedure, the Backup Designated Router
   plays a passive role, letting the Designated Router do more of the
   work.  This cuts down on the amount of local routing traffic.  See
   Section 13.3 for more information.

7.5.  The graph of adjacencies

   An adjacency is bound to the network that the two routers have in
   common.  If two routers have multiple networks in common, they may
   have multiple adjacencies between them.

   One can picture the collection of adjacencies on a network as forming
   an undirected graph.  The vertices consist of routers, with an edge
   joining two routers if they are adjacent.  The graph of adjacencies
   describes the flow of routing protocol packets, and in particular
   Link State Update Packets, through the Autonomous System.

   Two graphs are possible, depending on whether a Designated Router is
   elected for the network.  On physical point-to-point networks,
   Point-to-MultiPoint networks and virtual links, neighboring routers
   become adjacent whenever they can communicate directly.  In contrast,
   on broadcast and NBMA networks only the Designated Router and the
   Backup Designated Router become adjacent to all other routers
   attached to the network.

   These graphs are shown in Figure 10.  It is assumed that Router RT7
   has become the Designated Router, and Router RT3 the Backup
   Designated Router, for the Network N2.  The Backup Designated Router
   performs a lesser function during the flooding procedure than the
   Designated Router (see Section 13.3).  This is the reason for the
   dashed lines connecting the Backup Designated Router RT3.








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          +---+            +---+
          |RT1|------------|RT2|            o---------------o
          +---+    N1      +---+           RT1             RT2



                                                 RT7
                                                  o---------+
            +---+   +---+   +---+                /|\        |
            |RT7|   |RT3|   |RT4|               / | \       |
            +---+   +---+   +---+              /  |  \      |
              |       |       |               /   |   \     |
         +-----------------------+        RT5o RT6o    oRT4 |
                  |       |     N2            *   *   *     |
                +---+   +---+                  *  *  *      |
                |RT5|   |RT6|                   * * *       |
                +---+   +---+                    ***        |
                                                  o---------+
                                                 RT3


                  Figure 10: The graph of adjacencies

8.  Protocol Packet Processing

   This section discusses the general processing of OSPF routing
   protocol packets.  It is very important that the router link-state
   databases remain synchronized.  For this reason, routing protocol
   packets should get preferential treatment over ordinary data packets,
   both in sending and receiving.

   Routing protocol packets are sent along adjacencies only (with the
   exception of Hello packets, which are used to discover the
   adjacencies).  This means that all routing protocol packets travel a
   single IP hop, except those sent over virtual links.

   All routing protocol packets begin with a standard header. The
   sections below provide details on how to fill in and verify this
   standard header.  Then, for each packet type, the section giving more
   details on that particular packet type's processing is listed.

8.1.  Sending protocol packets

   When a router sends a routing protocol packet, it fills in the fields
   of the standard OSPF packet header as follows.  For more details on
   the header format consult Section A.3.1:





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   Version #
      Set to 2, the version number of the protocol as documented in this
      specification.

   Packet type
      The type of OSPF packet, such as Link state Update or Hello
      Packet.

   Packet length
      The length of the entire OSPF packet in bytes, including the
      standard OSPF packet header.

   Router ID
      The identity of the router itself (who is originating the packet).

   Area ID
      The OSPF area that the packet is being sent into.

   Checksum
      The standard IP 16-bit one's complement checksum of the entire
      OSPF packet, excluding the 64-bit authentication field.  This
      checksum is calculated as part of the appropriate authentication
      procedure; for some OSPF authentication types, the checksum
      calculation is omitted.  See Section D.4 for details.

   AuType and Authentication
      Each OSPF packet exchange is authenticated.  Authentication types
      are assigned by the protocol and are documented in Appendix D.  A
      different authentication procedure can be used for each IP
      network/subnet.  Autype indicates the type of authentication
      procedure in use.  The 64-bit authentication field is then for use
      by the chosen authentication procedure.  This procedure should be
      the last called when forming the packet to be sent.  See Section
      D.4 for details.

















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   The IP destination address for the packet is selected as follows.  On
   physical point-to-point networks, the IP destination is always set to
   the address AllSPFRouters.  On all other network types (including
   virtual links), the majority of OSPF packets are sent as unicasts,
   i.e., sent directly to the other end of the adjacency.  In this case,
   the IP destination is just the Neighbor IP address associated with
   the other end of the adjacency (see Section 10).  The only packets
   not sent as unicasts are on broadcast networks; on these networks
   Hello packets are sent to the multicast destination AllSPFRouters,
   the Designated Router and its Backup send both Link State Update
   Packets and Link State Acknowledgment Packets to the multicast
   address AllSPFRouters, while all other routers send both their Link
   State Update and Link State Acknowledgment Packets to the multicast
   address AllDRouters.

   Retransmissions of Link State Update packets are ALWAYS sent as
   unicasts.

   The IP source address should be set to the IP address of the sending
   interface.  Interfaces to unnumbered point-to-point networks have no
   associated IP address.  On these interfaces, the IP source should be
   set to any of the other IP addresses belonging to the router.  For
   this reason, there must be at least one IP address assigned to the
   router.[2] Note that, for most purposes, virtual links act precisely
   the same as unnumbered point-to-point networks.  However, each
   virtual link does have an IP interface address (discovered during the
   routing table build process) which is used as the IP source when
   sending packets over the virtual link.

   For more information on the format of specific OSPF packet types,
   consult the sections listed in Table 10.


             Type   Packet name            detailed section (transmit)
             _________________________________________________________
             1      Hello                  Section  9.5
             2      Database description   Section 10.8
             3      Link state request     Section 10.9
             4      Link state update      Section 13.3
             5      Link state ack         Section 13.5

    Table 10: Sections describing OSPF protocol packet transmission.

8.2.  Receiving protocol packets

   Whenever a protocol packet is received by the router it is marked
   with the interface it was received on.  For routers that have virtual
   links configured, it may not be immediately obvious which interface



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   to associate the packet with.  For example, consider the Router RT11
   depicted in Figure 6.  If RT11 receives an OSPF protocol packet on
   its interface to Network N8, it may want to associate the packet with
   the interface to Area 2, or with the virtual link to Router RT10
   (which is part of the backbone).  In the following, we assume that
   the packet is initially associated with the non-virtual  link.[3]

   In order for the packet to be accepted at the IP level, it must pass
   a number of tests, even before the packet is passed to OSPF for
   processing:

   o   The IP checksum must be correct.

   o   The packet's IP destination address must be the IP address
       of the receiving interface, or one of the IP multicast
       addresses AllSPFRouters or AllDRouters.

   o   The IP protocol specified must be OSPF (89).

   o   Locally originated packets should not be passed on to OSPF.
       That is, the source IP address should be examined to make
       sure this is not a multicast packet that the router itself
       generated.

   Next, the OSPF packet header is verified.  The fields specified
   in the header must match those configured for the receiving
   interface.  If they do not, the packet should be discarded:


   o   The version number field must specify protocol version 2.

   o   The Area ID found in the OSPF header must be verified.  If
       both of the following cases fail, the packet should be
       discarded.  The Area ID specified in the header must either:

       (1) Match the Area ID of the receiving interface.  In this
           case, the packet has been sent over a single hop.
           Therefore, the packet's IP source address is required to
           be on the same network as the receiving interface.  This
           can be verified by comparing the packet's IP source
           address to the interface's IP address, after masking
           both addresses with the interface mask.  This comparison
           should not be performed on point-to-point networks. On
           point-to-point networks, the interface addresses of each
           end of the link are assigned independently, if they are
           assigned at all.





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       (2) Indicate the backbone.  In this case, the packet has
           been sent over a virtual link.  The receiving router
           must be an area border router, and the Router ID
           specified in the packet (the source router) must be the
           other end of a configured virtual link.  The receiving
           interface must also attach to the virtual link's
           configured Transit area.  If all of these checks
           succeed, the packet is accepted and is from now on
           associated with the virtual link (and the backbone
           area).

   o   Packets whose IP destination is AllDRouters should only be
       accepted if the state of the receiving interface is DR or
       Backup (see Section 9.1).

   o   The AuType specified in the packet must match the AuType
       specified for the associated area.

   o   The packet must be authenticated.  The authentication
       procedure is indicated by the setting of AuType (see
       Appendix D).  The authentication procedure may use one or
       more Authentication keys, which can be configured on a per-
       interface basis.  The authentication procedure may also
       verify the checksum field in the OSPF packet header (which,
       when used, is set to the standard IP 16-bit one's complement
       checksum of the OSPF packet's contents after excluding the
       64-bit authentication field).  If the authentication
       procedure fails, the packet should be discarded.

   If the packet type is Hello, it should then be further processed by
   the Hello Protocol (see Section 10.5).  All other packet types are
   sent/received only on adjacencies.  This means that the packet must
   have been sent by one of the router's active neighbors.  If the
   receiving interface connects to a broadcast network, Point-to-
   MultiPoint network or NBMA network the sender is identified by the IP
   source address found in the packet's IP header.  If the receiving
   interface connects to a point-to-point network or a virtual link, the
   sender is identified by the Router ID (source router) found in the
   packet's OSPF header.  The data structure associated with the
   receiving interface contains the list of active neighbors.  Packets
   not matching any active neighbor are discarded.

   At this point all received protocol packets are associated with an
   active neighbor.  For the further input processing of specific packet
   types, consult the sections listed in Table 11.






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      Type   Packet name            detailed section (receive)
      ________________________________________________________
      1      Hello                  Section 10.5
      2      Database description   Section 10.6
      3      Link state request     Section 10.7
      4      Link state update      Section 13
      5      Link state ack         Section 13.7

     Table 11: Sections describing OSPF protocol packet reception.

9.  The Interface Data Structure

   An OSPF interface is the connection between a router and a network.
   We assume a single OSPF interface to each attached network/subnet,
   although supporting multiple interfaces on a single network is
   considered in Appendix F. Each interface structure has at most one IP
   interface address.

   An OSPF interface can be considered to belong to the area that
   contains the attached network.  All routing protocol packets
   originated by the router over this interface are labelled with the
   interface's Area ID.  One or more router adjacencies may develop over
   an interface. A router's LSAs reflect the state of its interfaces and
   their associated adjacencies.

   The following data items are associated with an interface. Note that
   a number of these items are actually configuration for the attached
   network; such items must be the same for all routers connected to the
   network.

   Type
      The OSPF interface type is either point-to-point, broadcast, NBMA,
      Point-to-MultiPoint or virtual link.

   State
      The functional level of an interface.  State determines whether or
      not full adjacencies are allowed to form over the interface.
      State is also reflected in the router's LSAs.

   IP interface address
      The IP address associated with the interface.  This appears as the
      IP source address in all routing protocol packets originated over
      this interface.  Interfaces to unnumbered point-to-point networks
      do not have an associated IP address.

   IP interface mask
      Also referred to as the subnet mask, this indicates the portion of
      the IP interface address that identifies the attached network.



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      Masking the IP interface address with the IP interface mask yields
      the IP network number of the attached network.  On point-to-point
      networks and virtual links, the IP interface mask is not defined.
      On these networks, the link itself is not assigned an IP network
      number, and so the addresses of each side of the link are assigned
      independently, if they are assigned at all.

   Area ID
      The Area ID of the area to which the attached network belongs.
      All routing protocol packets originating from the interface are
      labelled with this Area ID.

   HelloInterval
      The length of time, in seconds, between the Hello packets that the
      router sends on the interface.  Advertised in Hello packets sent
      out this interface.

   RouterDeadInterval
      The number of seconds before the router's neighbors will declare
      it down, when they stop hearing the router's Hello Packets.
      Advertised in Hello packets sent out this interface.

   InfTransDelay
      The estimated number of seconds it takes to transmit a Link State
      Update Packet over this interface.  LSAs contained in the Link
      State Update packet will have their age incremented by this amount
      before transmission.  This value should take into account
      transmission and propagation delays; it must be greater than zero.

   Router Priority
      An 8-bit unsigned integer.  When two routers attached to a network
      both attempt to become Designated Router, the one with the highest
      Router Priority takes precedence.  A router whose Router Priority
      is set to 0 is ineligible to become Designated Router on the
      attached network.  Advertised in Hello packets sent out this
      interface.

   Hello Timer
      An interval timer that causes the interface to send a Hello
      packet.  This timer fires every HelloInterval seconds.  Note that
      on non-broadcast networks a separate Hello packet is sent to each
      qualified neighbor.

   Wait Timer
      A single shot timer that causes the interface to exit the Waiting
      state, and as a consequence select a Designated Router on the
      network.  The length of the timer is RouterDeadInterval seconds.




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   List of neighboring routers
      The other routers attached to this network.  This list is formed
      by the Hello Protocol.  Adjacencies will be formed to some of
      these neighbors.  The set of adjacent neighbors can be determined
      by an examination of all of the neighbors' states.

   Designated Router
      The Designated Router selected for the attached network.  The
      Designated Router is selected on all broadcast and NBMA networks
      by the Hello Protocol.  Two pieces of identification are kept for
      the Designated Router: its Router ID and its IP interface address
      on the network.  The Designated Router advertises link state for
      the network; this network-LSA is labelled with the Designated
      Router's IP address.  The Designated Router is initialized to
      0.0.0.0, which indicates the lack of a Designated Router.

   Backup Designated Router
      The Backup Designated Router is also selected on all broadcast and
      NBMA networks by the Hello Protocol.  All routers on the attached
      network become adjacent to both the Designated Router and the
      Backup Designated Router.  The Backup Designated Router becomes
      Designated Router when the current Designated Router fails. The
      Backup Designated Router is initialized to 0.0.0.0, indicating the
      lack of a Backup Designated Router.

   Interface output cost(s)
      The cost of sending a data packet on the interface, expressed in
      the link state metric.  This is advertised as the link cost for
      this interface in the router-LSA. The cost of an interface must be
      greater than zero.

   RxmtInterval
      The number of seconds between LSA retransmissions, for adjacencies
      belonging to this interface.  Also used when retransmitting
      Database Description and Link State Request Packets.

   AuType
      The type of authentication used on the attached network/subnet.
      Authentication types are defined in Appendix D.  All OSPF packet
      exchanges are authenticated.  Different authentication schemes may
      be used on different networks/subnets.










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   Authentication key
      This configured data allows the authentication procedure to
      generate and/or verify OSPF protocol packets.  The Authentication
      key can be configured on a per-interface basis.  For example, if
      the AuType indicates simple password, the Authentication key would
      be a 64-bit clear password which is inserted into the OSPF packet
      header. If instead Autype indicates Cryptographic authentication,
      then the Authentication key is a shared secret which enables the
      generation/verification of message digests which are appended to
      the OSPF protocol packets. When Cryptographic authentication is
      used, multiple simultaneous keys are supported in order to achieve
      smooth key transition (see Section D.3).

9.1.  Interface states

   The various states that router interfaces may attain is documented in
   this section.  The states are listed in order of progressing
   functionality.  For example, the inoperative state is listed first,
   followed by a list of intermediate states before the final, fully
   functional state is achieved.  The specification makes use of this
   ordering by sometimes making references such as "those interfaces in
   state greater than X".  Figure 11 shows the graph of interface state
   changes.  The arcs of the graph are labelled with the event causing
   the state change.  These events are documented in Section 9.2.  The
   interface state machine is described in more detail in Section 9.3.

   Down
      This is the initial interface state.  In this state, the lower-
      level protocols have indicated that the interface is unusable.  No
      protocol traffic at all will be sent or received on such a
      interface.  In this state, interface parameters should be set to
      their initial values.



















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                                  +----+   UnloopInd   +--------+
                                  |Down|<--------------|Loopback|
                                  +----+               +--------+
                                     |
                                     |InterfaceUp
                          +-------+  |               +--------------+
                          |Waiting|<-+-------------->|Point-to-point|
                          +-------+                  +--------------+
                              |
                     WaitTimer|BackupSeen
                              |
                              |
                              |   NeighborChange
          +------+           +-+<---------------- +-------+
          |Backup|<----------|?|----------------->|DROther|
          +------+---------->+-+<-----+           +-------+
                    Neighbor  |       |
                    Change    |       |Neighbor
                              |       |Change
                              |     +--+
                              +---->|DR|
                                    +--+

                   Figure 11: Interface State changes

             In addition to the state transitions pictured,
           Event InterfaceDown always forces Down State, and
               Event LoopInd always forces Loopback State

      All interface timers should be disabled, and there should be no
      adjacencies associated with the interface.

   Loopback
      In this state, the router's interface to the network is looped
      back.  The interface may be looped back in hardware or software.
      The interface will be unavailable for regular data traffic.
      However, it may still be desirable to gain information on the
      quality of this interface, either through sending ICMP pings to
      the interface or through something like a bit error test.  For
      this reason, IP packets may still be addressed to an interface in
      Loopback state.  To facilitate this, such interfaces are
      advertised in router-LSAs as single host routes, whose destination
      is the IP interface address.[4]








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   Waiting
      In this state, the router is trying to determine the identity of
      the (Backup) Designated Router for the network.  To do this, the
      router monitors the Hello Packets it receives.  The router is not
      allowed to elect a Backup Designated Router nor a Designated
      Router until it transitions out of Waiting state.  This prevents
      unnecessary changes of (Backup) Designated Router.

   Point-to-point
      In this state, the interface is operational, and connects either
      to a physical point-to-point network or to a virtual link.  Upon
      entering this state, the router attempts to form an adjacency with
      the neighboring router.  Hello Packets are sent to the neighbor
      every HelloInterval seconds.

   DR Other
      The interface is to a broadcast or NBMA network on which another
      router has been selected to be the Designated Router.  In this
      state, the router itself has not been selected Backup Designated
      Router either.  The router forms adjacencies to both the
      Designated Router and the Backup Designated Router (if they
      exist).

   Backup
      In this state, the router itself is the Backup Designated Router
      on the attached network.  It will be promoted to Designated Router
      when the present Designated Router fails.  The router establishes
      adjacencies to all other routers attached to the network.  The
      Backup Designated Router performs slightly different functions
      during the Flooding Procedure, as compared to the Designated
      Router (see Section 13.3).  See Section 7.4 for more details on
      the functions performed by the Backup Designated Router.

   DR  In this state, this router itself is the Designated Router
      on the attached network.  Adjacencies are established to all other
      routers attached to the network.  The router must also originate a
      network-LSA for the network node.  The network-LSA will contain
      links to all routers (including the Designated Router itself)
      attached to the network.  See Section 7.3 for more details on the
      functions performed by the Designated Router.

9.2.  Events causing interface state changes

   State changes can be effected by a number of events.  These events
   are pictured as the labelled arcs in Figure 11.  The label
   definitions are listed below.  For a detailed explanation of the
   effect of these events on OSPF protocol operation, consult Section
   9.3.



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   InterfaceUp
      Lower-level protocols have indicated that the network interface is
      operational.  This enables the interface to transition out of Down
      state.  On virtual links, the interface operational indication is
      actually a result of the shortest path calculation (see Section
      16.7).

   WaitTimer
      The Wait Timer has fired, indicating the end of the waiting period
      that is required before electing a (Backup) Designated Router.

   BackupSeen
      The router has detected the existence or non-existence of a Backup
      Designated Router for the network.  This is done in one of two
      ways.  First, an Hello Packet may be received from a neighbor
      claiming to be itself the Backup Designated Router.
      Alternatively, an Hello Packet may be received from a neighbor
      claiming to be itself the Designated Router, and indicating that
      there is no Backup Designated Router.  In either case there must
      be bidirectional communication with the neighbor, i.e., the router
      must also appear in the neighbor's Hello Packet.  This event
      signals an end to the Waiting state.

   NeighborChange
      There has been a change in the set of bidirectional neighbors
      associated with the interface.  The (Backup) Designated Router
      needs to be recalculated.  The following neighbor changes lead to
      the NeighborChange event. For an explanation of neighbor states,
      see Section 10.1.

       o   Bidirectional communication has been established to a
           neighbor.  In other words, the state of the neighbor has
           transitioned to 2-Way or higher.

       o   There is no longer bidirectional communication with a
           neighbor.  In other words, the state of the neighbor has
           transitioned to Init or lower.

       o   One of the bidirectional neighbors is newly declaring
           itself as either Designated Router or Backup Designated
           Router.  This is detected through examination of that
           neighbor's Hello Packets.

       o   One of the bidirectional neighbors is no longer
           declaring itself as Designated Router, or is no longer
           declaring itself as Backup Designated Router.  This is
           again detected through examination of that neighbor's
           Hello Packets.



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       o   The advertised Router Priority for a bidirectional
           neighbor has changed.  This is again detected through
           examination of that neighbor's Hello Packets.

   LoopInd
      An indication has been received that the interface is now looped
      back to itself.  This indication can be received either from
      network management or from the lower level protocols.

   UnloopInd
      An indication has been received that the interface is no longer
      looped back.  As with the LoopInd event, this indication can be
      received either from network management or from the lower level
      protocols.

   InterfaceDown
      Lower-level protocols indicate that this interface is no longer
      functional. No matter what the current interface state is, the new
      interface state will be Down.

9.3.  The Interface state machine

   A detailed description of the interface state changes follows.  Each
   state change is invoked by an event (Section 9.2).  This event may
   produce different effects, depending on the current state of the
   interface.  For this reason, the state machine below is organized by
   current interface state and received event. Each entry in the state
   machine describes the resulting new interface state and the required
   set of additional actions.

   When an interface's state changes, it may be necessary to originate a
   new router-LSA.  See Section 12.4 for more details.

   Some of the required actions below involve generating events for the
   neighbor state machine.  For example, when an interface becomes
   inoperative, all neighbor connections associated with the interface
   must be destroyed.  For more information on the neighbor state
   machine, see Section 10.3.













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    State(s):  Down

       Event:  InterfaceUp

   New state:  Depends upon action routine

      Action:  Start the interval Hello Timer, enabling the
               periodic sending of Hello packets out the interface.
               If the attached network is a physical point-to-point
               network, Point-to-MultiPoint network or virtual
               link, the interface state transitions to Point-to-
               Point.  Else, if the router is not eligible to
               become Designated Router the interface state
               transitions to DR Other.

               Otherwise, the attached network is a broadcast or
               NBMA network and the router is eligible to become
               Designated Router.  In this case, in an attempt to
               discover the attached network's Designated Router
               the interface state is set to Waiting and the single
               shot Wait Timer is started.  Additionally, if the
               network is an NBMA network examine the configured
               list of neighbors for this interface and generate
               the neighbor event Start for each neighbor that is
               also eligible to become Designated Router.

    State(s):  Waiting

       Event:  BackupSeen

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.

      Action:  Calculate the attached network's Backup Designated
               Router and Designated Router, as shown in Section
               9.4.  As a result of this calculation, the new state
               of the interface will be either DR Other, Backup or
               DR.


    State(s):  Waiting

       Event:  WaitTimer

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.







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      Action:  Calculate the attached network's Backup Designated
               Router and Designated Router, as shown in Section
               9.4.  As a result of this calculation, the new state
               of the interface will be either DR Other, Backup or
               DR.


    State(s):  DR Other, Backup or DR

       Event:  NeighborChange

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.

      Action:  Recalculate the attached network's Backup Designated
               Router and Designated Router, as shown in Section
               9.4.  As a result of this calculation, the new state
               of the interface will be either DR Other, Backup or
               DR.


    State(s):  Any State

       Event:  InterfaceDown

   New state:  Down

      Action:  All interface variables are reset, and interface
               timers disabled.  Also, all neighbor connections
               associated with the interface are destroyed.  This
               is done by generating the event KillNbr on all
               associated neighbors (see Section 10.2).


    State(s):  Any State

       Event:  LoopInd

   New state:  Loopback

      Action:  Since this interface is no longer connected to the
               attached network the actions associated with the
               above InterfaceDown event are executed.


    State(s):  Loopback

       Event:  UnloopInd




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   New state:  Down

      Action:  No actions are necessary.  For example, the
               interface variables have already been reset upon
               entering the Loopback state.  Note that reception of
               an InterfaceUp event is necessary before the
               interface again becomes fully functional.

9.4.  Electing the Designated Router

   This section describes the algorithm used for calculating a network's
   Designated Router and Backup Designated Router.  This algorithm is
   invoked by the Interface state machine.  The initial time a router
   runs the election algorithm for a network, the network's Designated
   Router and Backup Designated Router are initialized to 0.0.0.0.  This
   indicates the lack of both a Designated Router and a Backup
   Designated Router.

   The Designated Router election algorithm proceeds as follows: Call
   the router doing the calculation Router X.  The list of neighbors
   attached to the network and having established bidirectional
   communication with Router X is examined.  This list is precisely the
   collection of Router X's neighbors (on this network) whose state is
   greater than or equal to 2-Way (see Section 10.1).  Router X itself
   is also considered to be on the list.  Discard all routers from the
   list that are ineligible to become Designated Router.  (Routers
   having Router Priority of 0 are ineligible to become Designated
   Router.)  The following steps are then executed, considering only
   those routers that remain on the list:

   (1) Note the current values for the network's Designated Router
       and Backup Designated Router.  This is used later for
       comparison purposes.

   (2) Calculate the new Backup Designated Router for the network
       as follows.  Only those routers on the list that have not
       declared themselves to be Designated Router are eligible to
       become Backup Designated Router.  If one or more of these
       routers have declared themselves Backup Designated Router
       (i.e., they are currently listing themselves as Backup
       Designated Router, but not as Designated Router, in their
       Hello Packets) the one having highest Router Priority is
       declared to be Backup Designated Router.  In case of a tie,
       the one having the highest Router ID is chosen.  If no
       routers have declared themselves Backup Designated Router,






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       choose the router having highest Router Priority, (again
       excluding those routers who have declared themselves
       Designated Router), and again use the Router ID to break
       ties.

   (3) Calculate the new Designated Router for the network as
       follows.  If one or more of the routers have declared
       themselves Designated Router (i.e., they are currently
       listing themselves as Designated Router in their Hello
       Packets) the one having highest Router Priority is declared
       to be Designated Router.  In case of a tie, the one having
       the highest Router ID is chosen.  If no routers have
       declared themselves Designated Router, assign the Designated
       Router to be the same as the newly elected Backup Designated
       Router.

   (4) If Router X is now newly the Designated Router or newly the
       Backup Designated Router, or is now no longer the Designated
       Router or no longer the Backup Designated Router, repeat
       steps 2 and 3, and then proceed to step 5.  For example, if
       Router X is now the Designated Router, when step 2 is
       repeated X will no longer be eligible for Backup Designated
       Router election.  Among other things, this will ensure that
       no router will declare itself both Backup Designated Router
       and Designated Router.[5]

   (5) As a result of these calculations, the router itself may now
       be Designated Router or Backup Designated Router.  See
       Sections 7.3 and 7.4 for the additional duties this would
       entail.  The router's interface state should be set
       accordingly.  If the router itself is now Designated Router,
       the new interface state is DR.  If the router itself is now
       Backup Designated Router, the new interface state is Backup.
       Otherwise, the new interface state is DR Other.

   (6) If the attached network is an NBMA network, and the router
       itself has just become either Designated Router or Backup
       Designated Router, it must start sending Hello Packets to
       those neighbors that are not eligible to become Designated
       Router (see Section 9.5.1).  This is done by invoking the
       neighbor event Start for each neighbor having a Router
       Priority of 0.

   (7) If the above calculations have caused the identity of either
       the Designated Router or Backup Designated Router to change,
       the set of adjacencies associated with this interface will
       need to be modified.  Some adjacencies may need to be
       formed, and others may need to be broken.  To accomplish



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       this, invoke the event AdjOK?  on all neighbors whose state
       is at least 2-Way.  This will cause their eligibility for
       adjacency to be reexamined (see Sections 10.3 and 10.4).


   The reason behind the election algorithm's complexity is the desire
   for an orderly transition from Backup Designated Router to Designated
   Router, when the current Designated Router fails.  This orderly
   transition is ensured through the introduction of hysteresis: no new
   Backup Designated Router can be chosen until the old Backup accepts
   its new Designated Router responsibilities.

   The above procedure may elect the same router to be both Designated
   Router and Backup Designated Router, although that router will never
   be the calculating router (Router X) itself.  The elected Designated
   Router may not be the router having the highest Router Priority, nor
   will the Backup Designated Router necessarily have the second highest
   Router Priority.  If Router X is not itself eligible to become
   Designated Router, it is possible that neither a Backup Designated
   Router nor a Designated Router will be selected in the above
   procedure.  Note also that if Router X is the only attached router
   that is eligible to become Designated Router, it will select itself
   as Designated Router and there will be no Backup Designated Router
   for the network.

9.5.  Sending Hello packets

   Hello packets are sent out each functioning router interface.  They
   are used to discover and maintain neighbor relationships.[6] On
   broadcast and NBMA networks, Hello Packets are also used to elect the
   Designated Router and Backup Designated Router.

   The format of an Hello packet is detailed in Section A.3.2.  The
   Hello Packet contains the router's Router Priority (used in choosing
   the Designated Router), and the interval between Hello Packets sent
   out the interface (HelloInterval).  The Hello Packet also indicates
   how often a neighbor must be heard from to remain active
   (RouterDeadInterval).  Both HelloInterval and RouterDeadInterval must
   be the same for all routers attached to a common network.  The Hello
   packet also contains the IP address mask of the attached network
   (Network Mask).  On unnumbered point-to-point networks and on virtual
   links this field should be set to 0.0.0.0.

   The Hello packet's Options field describes the router's optional OSPF
   capabilities.  One optional capability is defined in this
   specification (see Sections 4.5 and A.2).  The E-bit of the Options
   field should be set if and only if the attached area is capable of
   processing AS-external-LSAs (i.e., it is not a stub area). If the E-



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   bit is set incorrectly the neighboring routers will refuse to accept
   the Hello Packet (see Section 10.5).  Unrecognized bits in the Hello
   Packet's Options field should be set to zero.

   In order to ensure two-way communication between adjacent routers,
   the Hello packet contains the list of all routers on the network from
   which Hello Packets have been seen recently.  The Hello packet also
   contains the router's current choice for Designated Router and Backup
   Designated Router.  A value of 0.0.0.0 in these fields means that one
   has not yet been selected.

   On broadcast networks and physical point-to-point networks, Hello
   packets are sent every HelloInterval seconds to the IP multicast
   address AllSPFRouters.  On virtual links, Hello packets are sent as
   unicasts (addressed directly to the other end of the virtual link)
   every HelloInterval seconds. On Point-to-MultiPoint networks,
   separate Hello packets are sent to each attached neighbor every
   HelloInterval seconds. Sending of Hello packets on NBMA networks is
   covered in the next section.

9.5.1.  Sending Hello packets on NBMA networks

   Static configuration information may be necessary in order for the
   Hello Protocol to function on non-broadcast networks (see Sections
   C.5 and C.6).  On NBMA networks, every attached router which is
   eligible to become Designated Router becomes aware of all of its
   neighbors on the network (either through configuration or by some
   unspecified mechanism).  Each neighbor is labelled with the
   neighbor's Designated Router eligibility.

   The interface state must be at least Waiting for any Hello Packets to
   be sent out the NBMA interface. Hello Packets are then sent directly
   (as unicasts) to some subset of a router's neighbors.  Sometimes an
   Hello Packet is sent periodically on a timer; at other times it is
   sent as a response to a received Hello Packet.  A router's hello-
   sending behavior varies depending on whether the router itself is
   eligible to become Designated Router.

   If the router is eligible to become Designated Router, it must
   periodically send Hello Packets to all neighbors that are also
   eligible. In addition, if the router is itself the Designated Router
   or Backup Designated Router, it must also send periodic Hello Packets
   to all other neighbors.  This means that any two eligible routers are
   always exchanging Hello Packets, which is necessary for the correct
   operation of the Designated Router election algorithm.  To minimize
   the number of Hello Packets sent, the number of eligible routers on
   an NBMA network should be kept small.




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   If the router is not eligible to become Designated Router, it must
   periodically send Hello Packets to both the Designated Router and the
   Backup Designated Router (if they exist).  It must also send an Hello
   Packet in reply to an Hello Packet received from any eligible
   neighbor (other than the current Designated Router and Backup
   Designated Router).  This is needed to establish an initial
   bidirectional relationship with any potential Designated Router.

   When sending Hello packets periodically to any neighbor, the interval
   between Hello Packets is determined by the neighbor's state.  If the
   neighbor is in state Down, Hello Packets are sent every PollInterval
   seconds.  Otherwise, Hello Packets are sent every HelloInterval
   seconds.

10.  The Neighbor Data Structure

   An OSPF router converses with its neighboring routers.  Each separate
   conversation is described by a "neighbor data structure".  Each
   conversation is bound to a particular OSPF router interface, and is
   identified either by the neighboring router's OSPF Router ID or by
   its Neighbor IP address (see below). Thus if the OSPF router and
   another router have multiple attached networks in common, multiple
   conversations ensue, each described by a unique neighbor data
   structure.  Each separate conversation is loosely referred to in the
   text as being a separate "neighbor".

   The neighbor data structure contains all information pertinent to the
   forming or formed adjacency between the two neighbors.  (However,
   remember that not all neighbors become adjacent.)  An adjacency can
   be viewed as a highly developed conversation between two routers.

   State
      The functional level of the neighbor conversation.  This is
      described in more detail in Section 10.1.

   Inactivity Timer
      A single shot timer whose firing indicates that no Hello Packet
      has been seen from this neighbor recently.  The length of the
      timer is RouterDeadInterval seconds.

   Master/Slave
      When the two neighbors are exchanging databases, they form a
      master/slave relationship.  The master sends the first Database
      Description Packet, and is the only part that is allowed to
      retransmit.  The slave can only respond to the master's Database
      Description Packets.  The master/slave relationship is negotiated
      in state ExStart.




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   DD Sequence Number
      The DD Sequence number of the Database Description packet that is
      currently being sent to the neighbor.

   Last received Database Description packet
      The initialize(I), more (M) and master(MS) bits, Options field,
      and DD sequence number contained in the last Database Description
      packet received from the neighbor. Used to determine whether the
      next Database Description packet received from the neighbor is a
      duplicate.

   Neighbor ID
      The OSPF Router ID of the neighboring router.  The Neighbor ID is
      learned when Hello packets are received from the neighbor, or is
      configured if this is a virtual adjacency (see Section C.4).

   Neighbor Priority
      The Router Priority of the neighboring router. Contained in the
      neighbor's Hello packets, this item is used when selecting the
      Designated Router for the attached network.

   Neighbor IP address
      The IP address of the neighboring router's interface to the
      attached network.  Used as the Destination IP address when
      protocol packets are sent as unicasts along this adjacency.  Also
      used in router-LSAs as the Link ID for the attached network if the
      neighboring router is selected to be Designated Router (see
      Section 12.4.1).  The Neighbor IP address is learned when Hello
      packets are received from the neighbor.  For virtual links, the
      Neighbor IP address is learned during the routing table build
      process (see Section 15).

   Neighbor Options
      The optional OSPF capabilities supported by the neighbor.  Learned
      during the Database Exchange process (see Section 10.6).  The
      neighbor's optional OSPF capabilities are also listed in its Hello
      packets. This enables received Hello Packets to be rejected (i.e.,
      neighbor relationships will not even start to form) if there is a
      mismatch in certain crucial OSPF capabilities (see Section 10.5).
      The optional OSPF capabilities are documented in Section 4.5.

   Neighbor's Designated Router
      The neighbor's idea of the Designated Router.  If this is the
      neighbor itself, this is important in the local calculation of the
      Designated Router. Defined only on broadcast and NBMA networks.






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   Neighbor's Backup Designated Router
      The neighbor's idea of the Backup Designated Router.  If this is
      the neighbor itself, this is important in the local calculation of
      the Backup Designated Router.  Defined only on broadcast and NBMA
      networks.

   The next set of variables are lists of LSAs.  These lists describe
   subsets of the area link-state database.  This memo defines five
   distinct types of LSAs, all of which may be present in an area link-
   state database: router-LSAs, network-LSAs, and Type 3 and 4 summary-
   LSAs (all stored in the area data structure), and AS- external-LSAs
   (stored in the global data structure).

   Link state retransmission list
      The list of LSAs that have been flooded but not acknowledged on
      this adjacency.  These will be retransmitted at intervals until
      they are acknowledged, or until the adjacency is destroyed.

   Database summary list
      The complete list of LSAs that make up the area link-state
      database, at the moment the neighbor goes into Database Exchange
      state.  This list is sent to the neighbor in Database Description
      packets.

   Link state request list
      The list of LSAs that need to be received from this neighbor in
      order to synchronize the two neighbors' link-state databases.
      This list is created as Database Description packets are received,
      and is then sent to the neighbor in Link State Request packets.
      The list is depleted as appropriate Link State Update packets are
      received.

10.1.  Neighbor states

   The state of a neighbor (really, the state of a conversation being
   held with a neighboring router) is documented in the following
   sections.  The states are listed in order of progressing
   functionality.  For example, the inoperative state is listed first,
   followed by a list of intermediate states before the final, fully
   functional state is achieved.  The specification makes use of this
   ordering by sometimes making references such as "those
   neighbors/adjacencies in state greater than X".  Figures 12 and 13
   show the graph of neighbor state changes.  The arcs of the graphs are
   labelled with the event causing the state change.  The neighbor
   events are documented in Section 10.2.






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   The graph in Figure 12 shows the state changes effected by the Hello
   Protocol.  The Hello Protocol is responsible for neighbor acquisition
   and maintenance, and for ensuring two way communication between
   neighbors.

   The graph in Figure 13 shows the forming of an adjacency.  Not every
   two neighboring routers become adjacent (see Section 10.4).  The
   adjacency starts to form when the neighbor is in state ExStart.
   After the two routers discover their master/slave status, the state
   transitions to Exchange.  At this point the neighbor starts to be
   used in the flooding procedure, and the two neighboring routers begin
   synchronizing their databases.  When this synchronization is
   finished, the neighbor is in state Full and we say that the two
   routers are fully adjacent.  At this point the adjacency is listed in
   LSAs.

   For a more detailed description of neighbor state changes, together
   with the additional actions involved in each change, see Section
   10.3.

   Down
      This is the initial state of a neighbor conversation.  It
      indicates that there has been no recent information received from
      the neighbor. On NBMA networks, Hello packets may still be sent to
      "Down" neighbors, although at a reduced frequency (see Section
      9.5.1).

























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                                   +----+
                                   |Down|
                                   +----+
                                     |\
                                     | \Start
                                     |  \      +-------+
                             Hello   |   +---->|Attempt|
                            Received |         +-------+
                                     |             |
                             +----+<-+             |HelloReceived
                             |Init|<---------------+
                             +----+<--------+
                                |           |
                                |2-Way      |1-Way
                                |Received   |Received
                                |           |
              +-------+         |        +-----+
              |ExStart|<--------+------->|2-Way|
              +-------+                  +-----+

           Figure 12: Neighbor state changes (Hello Protocol)

             In addition to the state transitions pictured,
                Event KillNbr always forces Down State,
            Event Inactivity Timer always forces Down State,
                 Event LLDown always forces Down State

























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                                  +-------+
                                  |ExStart|
                                  +-------+
                                    |
                     NegotiationDone|
                                    +->+--------+
                                       |Exchange|
                                    +--+--------+
                                    |
                            Exchange|
                              Done  |
                    +----+          |      +-------+
                    |Full|<---------+----->|Loading|
                    +----+<-+              +-------+
                            |  LoadingDone     |
                            +------------------+

         Figure 13: Neighbor state changes (Database Exchange)

             In addition to the state transitions pictured,
             Event SeqNumberMismatch forces ExStart state,
                  Event BadLSReq forces ExStart state,
                     Event 1-Way forces Init state,
                Event KillNbr always forces Down State,
            Event InactivityTimer always forces Down State,
                 Event LLDown always forces Down State,
            Event AdjOK? leads to adjacency forming/breaking
























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   Attempt
      This state is only valid for neighbors attached to NBMA networks.
      It indicates that no recent information has been received from the
      neighbor, but that a more concerted effort should be made to
      contact the neighbor.  This is done by sending the neighbor Hello
      packets at intervals of HelloInterval (see Section 9.5.1).

   Init
      In this state, an Hello packet has recently been seen from the
      neighbor.  However, bidirectional communication has not yet been
      established with the neighbor (i.e., the router itself did not
      appear in the neighbor's Hello packet).  All neighbors in this
      state (or higher) are listed in the Hello packets sent from the
      associated interface.

   2-Way
      In this state, communication between the two routers is
      bidirectional.  This has been assured by the operation of the
      Hello Protocol.  This is the most advanced state short of
      beginning adjacency establishment.  The (Backup) Designated Router
      is selected from the set of neighbors in state 2-Way or greater.

   ExStart
      This is the first step in creating an adjacency between the two
      neighboring routers.  The goal of this step is to decide which
      router is the master, and to decide upon the initial DD sequence
      number.  Neighbor conversations in this state or greater are
      called adjacencies.

   Exchange
      In this state the router is describing its entire link state
      database by sending Database Description packets to the neighbor.
      Each Database Description Packet has a DD sequence number, and is
      explicitly acknowledged.  Only one Database Description Packet is
      allowed outstanding at any one time.  In this state, Link State
      Request Packets may also be sent asking for the neighbor's more
      recent LSAs.  All adjacencies in Exchange state or greater are
      used by the flooding procedure.  In fact, these adjacencies are
      fully capable of transmitting and receiving all types of OSPF
      routing protocol packets.

   Loading
      In this state, Link State Request packets are sent to the neighbor
      asking for the more recent LSAs that have been discovered (but not
      yet received) in the Exchange state.






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   Full
      In this state, the neighboring routers are fully adjacent.  These
      adjacencies will now appear in router-LSAs and network-LSAs.

10.2.  Events causing neighbor state changes

   State changes can be effected by a number of events.  These events
   are shown in the labels of the arcs in Figures 12 and 13.  The label
   definitions are as follows:

   HelloReceived
      An Hello packet has been received from the neighbor.

   Start
      This is an indication that Hello Packets should now be sent to the
      neighbor at intervals of HelloInterval seconds.  This event is
      generated only for neighbors associated with NBMA networks.

   2-WayReceived
      Bidirectional communication has been realized between the two
      neighboring routers.  This is indicated by the router seeing
      itself in the neighbor's Hello packet.

   NegotiationDone
      The Master/Slave relationship has been negotiated, and DD sequence
      numbers have been exchanged.  This signals the start of the
      sending/receiving of Database Description packets.  For more
      information on the generation of this event, consult Section 10.8.

   ExchangeDone
      Both routers have successfully transmitted a full sequence of
      Database Description packets.  Each router now knows what parts of
      its link state database are out of date.  For more information on
      the generation of this event, consult Section 10.8.

   BadLSReq
      A Link State Request has been received for an LSA not contained in
      the database. This indicates an error in the Database Exchange
      process.

   Loading Done
      Link State Updates have been received for all out-of-date portions
      of the database.  This is indicated by the Link state request list
      becoming empty after the Database Exchange process has completed.







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   AdjOK?
      A decision must be made as to whether an adjacency should be
      established/maintained with the neighbor.  This event will start
      some adjacencies forming, and destroy others.

   The following events cause well developed neighbors to revert to
   lesser states.  Unlike the above events, these events may occur when
   the neighbor conversation is in any of a number of states.

   SeqNumberMismatch
      A Database Description packet has been received that either a) has
      an unexpected DD sequence number, b) unexpectedly has the Init bit
      set or c) has an Options field differing from the last Options
      field received in a Database Description packet.  Any of these
      conditions indicate that some error has occurred during adjacency
      establishment.

   1-Way
      An Hello packet has been received from the neighbor, in which the
      router is not mentioned. This indicates that communication with
      the neighbor is not bidirectional.

   KillNbr
      This is an indication that all communication with the neighbor is
      now impossible, forcing the neighbor to revert to Down state.

   InactivityTimer
      The inactivity Timer has fired.  This means that no Hello packets
      have been seen recently from the neighbor. The neighbor reverts to
      Down state.

   LLDown
      This is an indication from the lower level protocols that the
      neighbor is now unreachable.  For example, on an X.25 network this
      could be indicated by an X.25 clear indication with appropriate
      cause and diagnostic fields.  This event forces the neighbor into
      Down state.

10.3.  The Neighbor state machine

   A detailed description of the neighbor state changes follows.  Each
   state change is invoked by an event (Section 10.2).  This event may
   produce different effects, depending on the current state of the
   neighbor.  For this reason, the state machine below is organized by
   current neighbor state and received event.  Each entry in the state
   machine describes the resulting new neighbor state and the required
   set of additional actions.




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   When a neighbor's state changes, it may be necessary to rerun the
   Designated Router election algorithm.  This is determined by whether
   the interface NeighborChange event is generated (see Section 9.2).
   Also, if the Interface is in DR state (the router is itself
   Designated Router), changes in neighbor state may cause a new
   network-LSA to be originated (see Section 12.4).

   When the neighbor state machine needs to invoke the interface state
   machine, it should be done as a scheduled task (see Section 4.4).
   This simplifies things, by ensuring that neither state machine will
   be executed recursively.


    State(s):  Down

       Event:  Start

   New state:  Attempt

      Action:  Send an Hello Packet to the neighbor (this neighbor
               is always associated with an NBMA network) and start
               the Inactivity Timer for the neighbor.  The timer's
               later firing would indicate that communication with
               the neighbor was not attained.


    State(s):  Attempt

       Event:  HelloReceived

   New state:  Init

      Action:  Restart the Inactivity Timer for the neighbor, since
               the neighbor has now been heard from.


    State(s):  Down

       Event:  HelloReceived

   New state:  Init

      Action:  Start the Inactivity Timer for the neighbor.  The
               timer's later firing would indicate that the neighbor
               is dead.






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    State(s):  Init or greater

       Event:  HelloReceived

   New state:  No state change.

      Action:  Restart the Inactivity Timer for the neighbor, since
               the neighbor has again been heard from.


    State(s):  Init

       Event:  2-WayReceived

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.

      Action:  Determine whether an adjacency should be established
               with the neighbor (see Section 10.4).  If not, the
               new neighbor state is 2-Way.

               Otherwise (an adjacency should be established) the
               neighbor state transitions to ExStart.  Upon
               entering this state, the router increments the DD
               sequence number in the neighbor data structure.  If
               this is the first time that an adjacency has been
               attempted, the DD sequence number should be assigned
               some unique value (like the time of day clock).  It
               then declares itself master (sets the master/slave
               bit to master), and starts sending Database
               Description Packets, with the initialize (I), more
               (M) and master (MS) bits set.  This Database
               Description Packet should be otherwise empty.  This
               Database Description Packet should be retransmitted
               at intervals of RxmtInterval until the next state is
               entered (see Section 10.8).


    State(s):  ExStart

       Event:  NegotiationDone

   New state:  Exchange

      Action:  The router must list the contents of its entire area
               link state database in the neighbor Database summary
               list.  The area link state database consists of the
               router-LSAs, network-LSAs and summary-LSAs contained
               in the area structure, along with the AS-external-



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               LSAs contained in the global structure.  AS-
               external-LSAs are omitted from a virtual neighbor's
               Database summary list.  AS-external-LSAs are omitted
               from the Database summary list if the area has been
               configured as a stub (see Section 3.6).  LSAs whose
               age is equal to MaxAge are instead added to the
               neighbor's Link state retransmission list.  A
               summary of the Database summary list will be sent to
               the neighbor in Database Description packets.  Each
               Database Description Packet has a DD sequence
               number, and is explicitly acknowledged.  Only one
               Database Description Packet is allowed outstanding
               at any one time.  For more detail on the sending and
               receiving of Database Description packets, see
               Sections 10.8 and 10.6.


    State(s):  Exchange

       Event:  ExchangeDone

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.

      Action:  If the neighbor Link state request list is empty,
               the new neighbor state is Full.  No other action is
               required.  This is an adjacency's final state.

               Otherwise, the new neighbor state is Loading.  Start
               (or continue) sending Link State Request packets to
               the neighbor (see Section 10.9).  These are requests
               for the neighbor's more recent LSAs (which were
               discovered but not yet received in the Exchange
               state).  These LSAs are listed in the Link state
               request list associated with the neighbor.


    State(s):  Loading

       Event:  Loading Done

   New state:  Full

      Action:  No action required.  This is an adjacency's final
               state.







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    State(s):  2-Way

       Event:  AdjOK?

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.

      Action:  Determine whether an adjacency should be formed with
               the neighboring router (see Section 10.4).  If not,
               the neighbor state remains at 2-Way.  Otherwise,
               transition the neighbor state to ExStart and perform
               the actions associated with the above state machine
               entry for state Init and event 2-WayReceived.


    State(s):  ExStart or greater

       Event:  AdjOK?

   New state:  Depends upon action routine.

      Action:  Determine whether the neighboring router should
               still be adjacent.  If yes, there is no state change
               and no further action is necessary.

               Otherwise, the (possibly partially formed) adjacency
               must be destroyed.  The neighbor state transitions
               to 2-Way.  The Link state retransmission list,
               Database summary list and Link state request list
               are cleared of LSAs.


    State(s):  Exchange or greater

       Event:  SeqNumberMismatch

   New state:  ExStart

      Action:  The (possibly partially formed) adjacency is torn
               down, and then an attempt is made at
               reestablishment.  The neighbor state first
               transitions to ExStart.  The Link state
               retransmission list, Database summary list and Link
               state request list are cleared of LSAs.  Then the
               router increments the DD sequence number in the
               neighbor data structure, declares itself master
               (sets the master/slave bit to master), and starts
               sending Database Description Packets, with the
               initialize (I), more (M) and master (MS) bits set.



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               This Database Description Packet should be otherwise
               empty (see Section 10.8).


    State(s):  Exchange or greater

       Event:  BadLSReq

   New state:  ExStart

      Action:  The action for event BadLSReq is exactly the same as
               for the neighbor event SeqNumberMismatch.  The
               (possibly partially formed) adjacency is torn down,
               and then an attempt is made at reestablishment.  For
               more information, see the neighbor state machine
               entry that is invoked when event SeqNumberMismatch
               is generated in state Exchange or greater.


    State(s):  Any state

       Event:  KillNbr

   New state:  Down

      Action:  The Link state retransmission list, Database summary
               list and Link state request list are cleared of
               LSAs.  Also, the Inactivity Timer is disabled.


    State(s):  Any state

       Event:  LLDown

   New state:  Down

      Action:  The Link state retransmission list, Database summary
               list and Link state request list are cleared of
               LSAs.  Also, the Inactivity Timer is disabled.












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    State(s):  Any state

       Event:  InactivityTimer

   New state:  Down

      Action:  The Link state retransmission list, Database summary
               list and Link state request list are cleared of
               LSAs.


    State(s):  2-Way or greater

       Event:  1-WayReceived

   New state:  Init

      Action:  The Link state retransmission list, Database summary
               list and Link state request list are cleared of
               LSAs.


    State(s):  2-Way or greater

       Event:  2-WayReceived

   New state:  No state change.

      Action:  No action required.


    State(s):  Init

       Event:  1-WayReceived

   New state:  No state change.

      Action:  No action required.


10.4.  Whether to become adjacent

   Adjacencies are established with some subset of the router's
   neighbors.  Routers connected by point-to-point networks, Point-to-
   MultiPoint networks and virtual links always become adjacent.  On
   broadcast and NBMA networks, all routers become adjacent to both the
   Designated Router and the Backup Designated Router.




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   The adjacency-forming decision occurs in two places in the neighbor
   state machine.  First, when bidirectional communication is initially
   established with the neighbor, and secondly, when the identity of the
   attached network's (Backup) Designated Router changes.  If the
   decision is made to not attempt an adjacency, the state of the
   neighbor communication stops at 2-Way.

   An adjacency should be established with a bidirectional neighbor when
   at least one of the following conditions holds:

   o   The underlying network type is point-to-point

   o   The underlying network type is Point-to-MultiPoint

   o   The underlying network type is virtual link

   o   The router itself is the Designated Router

   o   The router itself is the Backup Designated Router

   o   The neighboring router is the Designated Router

   o   The neighboring router is the Backup Designated Router

10.5.  Receiving Hello Packets

   This section explains the detailed processing of a received Hello
   Packet.  (See Section A.3.2 for the format of Hello packets.)  The
   generic input processing of OSPF packets will have checked the
   validity of the IP header and the OSPF packet header.  Next, the
   values of the Network Mask, HelloInterval, and RouterDeadInterval
   fields in the received Hello packet must be checked against the
   values configured for the receiving interface.  Any mismatch causes
   processing to stop and the packet to be dropped.  In other words, the
   above fields are really describing the attached network's
   configuration.  However, there is one exception to the above rule: on
   point-to-point networks and on virtual links, the Network Mask in the
   received Hello Packet should be ignored.

   The receiving interface attaches to a single OSPF area (this could be
   the backbone).  The setting of the E-bit found in the Hello Packet's
   Options field must match this area's ExternalRoutingCapability.  If
   AS-external-LSAs are not flooded into/throughout the area (i.e, the
   area is a "stub") the E-bit must be clear in received Hello Packets,
   otherwise the E-bit must be set.  A mismatch causes processing to
   stop and the packet to be dropped.  The setting of the rest of the
   bits in the Hello Packet's Options field should be ignored.




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   At this point, an attempt is made to match the source of the Hello
   Packet to one of the receiving interface's neighbors.  If the
   receiving interface connects to a broadcast, Point-to-MultiPoint or
   NBMA network the source is identified by the IP source address found
   in the Hello's IP header.  If the receiving interface connects to a
   point-to-point link or a virtual link, the source is identified by
   the Router ID found in the Hello's OSPF packet header.  The
   interface's current list of neighbors is contained in the interface's
   data structure.  If a matching neighbor structure cannot be found,
   (i.e., this is the first time the neighbor has been detected), one is
   created.  The initial state of a newly created neighbor is set to
   Down.

   When receiving an Hello Packet from a neighbor on a broadcast,
   Point-to-MultiPoint or NBMA network, set the neighbor structure's
   Neighbor ID equal to the Router ID found in the packet's OSPF header.
   When receiving an Hello on a point-to-point network (but not on a
   virtual link) set the neighbor structure's Neighbor IP address to the
   packet's IP source address.

   Now the rest of the Hello Packet is examined, generating events to be
   given to the neighbor and interface state machines.  These state
   machines are specified either to be executed or scheduled (see
   Section 4.4).  For example, by specifying below that the neighbor
   state machine be executed in line, several neighbor state transitions
   may be effected by a single received Hello:

   o   Each Hello Packet causes the neighbor state machine to be
       executed with the event HelloReceived.

   o   Then the list of neighbors contained in the Hello Packet is
       examined.  If the router itself appears in this list, the
       neighbor state machine should be executed with the event 2-
       WayReceived.  Otherwise, the neighbor state machine should
       be executed with the event 1-WayReceived, and the processing
       of the packet stops.

   o   Next, the Hello Packet's Router Priority field is examined.
       If this field is different than the one previously received
       from the neighbor, the receiving interface's state machine
       is scheduled with the event NeighborChange.  In any case,
       the Router Priority field in the neighbor data structure
       should be updated accordingly.

   o   Next the Designated Router field in the Hello Packet is
       examined.  If the neighbor is both declaring itself to be
       Designated Router (Designated Router field = Neighbor IP
       address) and the Backup Designated Router field in the



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       packet is equal to 0.0.0.0 and the receiving interface is in
       state Waiting, the receiving interface's state machine is
       scheduled with the event BackupSeen.  Otherwise, if the
       neighbor is declaring itself to be Designated Router and it
       had not previously, or the neighbor is not declaring itself
       Designated Router where it had previously, the receiving
       interface's state machine is scheduled with the event
       NeighborChange.  In any case, the Neighbors' Designated
       Router item in the neighbor structure is updated
       accordingly.

   o   Finally, the Backup Designated Router field in the Hello
       Packet is examined.  If the neighbor is declaring itself to
       be Backup Designated Router (Backup Designated Router field
       = Neighbor IP address) and the receiving interface is in
       state Waiting, the receiving interface's state machine is
       scheduled with the event BackupSeen.  Otherwise, if the
       neighbor is declaring itself to be Backup Designated Router
       and it had not previously, or the neighbor is not declaring
       itself Backup Designated Router where it had previously, the
       receiving interface's state machine is scheduled with the
       event NeighborChange.  In any case, the Neighbor's Backup
       Designated Router item in the neighbor structure is updated
       accordingly.

   On NBMA networks, receipt of an Hello Packet may also cause an Hello
   Packet to be sent back to the neighbor in response. See Section 9.5.1
   for more details.

10.6.  Receiving Database Description Packets

   This section explains the detailed processing of a received Database
   Description Packet.  The incoming Database Description Packet has
   already been associated with a neighbor and receiving interface by
   the generic input packet processing (Section 8.2).  Whether the
   Database Description packet should be accepted, and if so, how it
   should be further processed depends upon the neighbor state.

   If a Database Description packet is accepted, the following packet
   fields should be saved in the corresponding neighbor data structure
   under "last received Database Description packet": the packet's
   initialize(I), more (M) and master(MS) bits, Options field, and DD
   sequence number. If these fields are set identically in two
   consecutive Database Description packets received from the neighbor,
   the second Database Description packet is considered to be a
   "duplicate" in the processing described below.





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   If the Interface MTU field in the Database Description packet
   indicates an IP datagram size that is larger than the router can
   accept on the receiving interface without fragmentation, the Database
   Description packet is rejected.  Otherwise, if the neighbor state is:

   Down
      The packet should be rejected.

   Attempt
      The packet should be rejected.

   Init
      The neighbor state machine should be executed with the event 2-
      WayReceived.  This causes an immediate state change to either
      state 2-Way or state ExStart. If the new state is ExStart, the
      processing of the current packet should then continue in this new
      state by falling through to case ExStart below.

   2-Way
      The packet should be ignored.  Database Description Packets are
      used only for the purpose of bringing up adjacencies.[7]

   ExStart
      If the received packet matches one of the following cases, then
      the neighbor state machine should be executed with the event
      NegotiationDone (causing the state to transition to Exchange), the
      packet's Options field should be recorded in the neighbor
      structure's Neighbor Options field and the packet should be
      accepted as next in sequence and processed further (see below).
      Otherwise, the packet should be ignored.

       o   The initialize(I), more (M) and master(MS) bits are set,
           the contents of the packet are empty, and the neighbor's
           Router ID is larger than the router's own.  In this case
           the router is now Slave.  Set the master/slave bit to
           slave, and set the neighbor data structure's DD sequence
           number to that specified by the master.

       o   The initialize(I) and master(MS) bits are off, the
           packet's DD sequence number equals the neighbor data
           structure's DD sequence number (indicating
           acknowledgment) and the neighbor's Router ID is smaller
           than the router's own.  In this case the router is
           Master.







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   Exchange
      Duplicate Database Description packets are discarded by the
      master, and cause the slave to retransmit the last Database
      Description packet that it had sent. Otherwise (the packet is not
      a duplicate):

       o   If the state of the MS-bit is inconsistent with the
           master/slave state of the connection, generate the
           neighbor event SeqNumberMismatch and stop processing the
           packet.

       o   If the initialize(I) bit is set, generate the neighbor
           event SeqNumberMismatch and stop processing the packet.

       o   If the packet's Options field indicates a different set
           of optional OSPF capabilities than were previously
           received from the neighbor (recorded in the Neighbor
           Options field of the neighbor structure), generate the
           neighbor event SeqNumberMismatch and stop processing the
           packet.

       o   Database Description packets must be processed in
           sequence, as indicated by the packets' DD sequence
           numbers. If the router is master, the next packet
           received should have DD sequence number equal to the DD
           sequence number in the neighbor data structure. If the
           router is slave, the next packet received should have DD
           sequence number equal to one more than the DD sequence
           number stored in the neighbor data structure. In either
           case, if the packet is the next in sequence it should be
           accepted and its contents processed as specified below.

       o   Else, generate the neighbor event SeqNumberMismatch and
           stop processing the packet.

   Loading or Full
      In this state, the router has sent and received an entire sequence
      of Database Description Packets.  The only packets received should
      be duplicates (see above). In particular, the packet's Options
      field should match the set of optional OSPF capabilities
      previously indicated by the neighbor (stored in the neighbor
      structure's Neighbor Options field).  Any other packets received,
      including the reception of a packet with the Initialize(I) bit
      set, should generate the neighbor event SeqNumberMismatch.[8]
      Duplicates should be discarded by the master.  The slave must
      respond to duplicates by repeating the last Database Description
      packet that it had sent.




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   When the router accepts a received Database Description Packet as the
   next in sequence the packet contents are processed as follows.  For
   each LSA listed, the LSA's LS type is checked for validity.  If the
   LS type is unknown (e.g., not one of the LS types 1-5 defined by this
   specification), or if this is an AS-external-LSA (LS type = 5) and
   the neighbor is associated with a stub area, generate the neighbor
   event SeqNumberMismatch and stop processing the packet.  Otherwise,
   the router looks up the LSA in its database to see whether it also
   has an instance of the LSA.  If it does not, or if the database copy
   is less recent (see Section 13.1), the LSA is put on the Link state
   request list so that it can be requested (immediately or at some
   later time) in Link State Request Packets.

   When the router accepts a received Database Description Packet as the
   next in sequence, it also performs the following actions, depending
   on whether it is master or slave:

   Master
      Increments the DD sequence number in the neighbor data structure.
      If the router has already sent its entire sequence of Database
      Description Packets, and the just accepted packet has the more bit
      (M) set to 0, the neighbor event ExchangeDone is generated.
      Otherwise, it should send a new Database Description to the slave.

   Slave
      Sets the DD sequence number in the neighbor data structure to the
      DD sequence number appearing in the received packet.  The slave
      must send a Database Description Packet in reply.  If the received
      packet has the more bit (M) set to 0, and the packet to be sent by
      the slave will also have the M-bit set to 0, the neighbor event
      ExchangeDone is generated.  Note that the slave always generates
      this event before the master.

10.7.  Receiving Link State Request Packets

   This section explains the detailed processing of received Link State
   Request packets.  Received Link State Request Packets specify a list
   of LSAs that the neighbor wishes to receive.  Link State Request
   Packets should be accepted when the neighbor is in states Exchange,
   Loading, or Full.  In all other states Link State Request Packets
   should be ignored.










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   Each LSA specified in the Link State Request packet should be located
   in the router's database, and copied into Link State Update packets
   for transmission to the neighbor.  These LSAs should NOT be placed on
   the Link state retransmission list for the neighbor.  If an LSA
   cannot be found in the database, something has gone wrong with the
   Database Exchange process, and neighbor event BadLSReq should be
   generated.

10.8.  Sending Database Description Packets

   This section describes how Database Description Packets are sent to a
   neighbor. The Database Description packet's Interface MTU field is
   set to the size of the largest IP datagram that can be sent out the
   sending interface, without fragmentation.  Common MTUs in use in the
   Internet can be found in Table 7-1 of [Ref22]. Interface MTU should
   be set to 0 in Database Description packets sent over virtual links.

   The router's optional OSPF capabilities (see Section 4.5) are
   transmitted to the neighbor in the Options field of the Database
   Description packet.  The router should maintain the same set of
   optional capabilities throughout the Database Exchange and flooding
   procedures.  If for some reason the router's optional capabilities
   change, the Database Exchange procedure should be restarted by
   reverting to neighbor state ExStart.  One optional capability is
   defined in this specification (see Sections 4.5 and A.2). The E-bit
   should be set if and only if the attached network belongs to a non-
   stub area. Unrecognized bits in the Options field should be set to
   zero.  The sending of Database Description packets depends on the
   neighbor's state.  In state ExStart the router sends empty Database
   Description packets, with the initialize (I), more (M) and master
   (MS) bits set.  These packets are retransmitted every RxmtInterval
   seconds.

   In state Exchange the Database Description Packets actually contain
   summaries of the link state information contained in the router's
   database.  Each LSA in the area's link-state database (at the time
   the neighbor transitions into Exchange state) is listed in the
   neighbor Database summary list.  Each new Database Description Packet
   copies its DD sequence number from the neighbor data structure and
   then describes the current top of the Database summary list.  Items
   are removed from the Database summary list when the previous packet
   is acknowledged.

   In state Exchange, the determination of when to send a Database
   Description packet depends on whether the router is master or slave:






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   Master
      Database Description packets are sent when either a) the slave
      acknowledges the previous Database Description packet by echoing
      the DD sequence number or b) RxmtInterval seconds elapse without
      an acknowledgment, in which case the previous Database Description
      packet is retransmitted.

   Slave
      Database Description packets are sent only in response to Database
      Description packets received from the master.  If the Database
      Description packet received from the master is new, a new Database
      Description packet is sent, otherwise the previous Database
      Description packet is resent.

   In states Loading and Full the slave must resend its last Database
   Description packet in response to duplicate Database Description
   packets received from the master.  For this reason the slave must
   wait RouterDeadInterval seconds before freeing the last Database
   Description packet.  Reception of a Database Description packet from
   the master after this interval will generate a SeqNumberMismatch
   neighbor event.

10.9.  Sending Link State Request Packets

   In neighbor states Exchange or Loading, the Link state request list
   contains a list of those LSAs that need to be obtained from the
   neighbor.  To request these LSAs, a router sends the neighbor the
   beginning of the Link state request list, packaged in a Link State
   Request packet.

   When the neighbor responds to these requests with the proper Link
   State Update packet(s), the Link state request list is truncated and
   a new Link State Request packet is sent.  This process continues
   until the Link state request list becomes empty.  Unsatisfied Link
   State Request packets are retransmitted at intervals of RxmtInterval.
   There should be at most one Link State Request packet outstanding at
   any one time.

   When the Link state request list becomes empty, and the neighbor
   state is Loading (i.e., a complete sequence of Database Description
   packets has been sent to and received from the neighbor), the Loading
   Done neighbor event is generated.









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10.10.  An Example

   Figure 14 shows an example of an adjacency forming.  Routers RT1 and
   RT2 are both connected to a broadcast network.  It is assumed that
   RT2 is the Designated Router for the network, and that RT2 has a
   higher Router ID than Router RT1.

   The neighbor state changes realized by each router are listed on the
   sides of the figure.

   At the beginning of Figure 14, Router RT1's interface to the network
   becomes operational.  It begins sending Hello Packets, although it
   doesn't know the identity of the Designated Router or of any other
   neighboring routers.  Router RT2 hears this hello (moving the
   neighbor to Init state), and in its next Hello Packet indicates that
   it is itself the Designated Router and that it has heard Hello
   Packets from RT1.  This in turn causes RT1 to go to state ExStart, as
   it starts to bring up the adjacency.

   RT1 begins by asserting itself as the master.  When it sees that RT2
   is indeed the master (because of RT2's higher Router ID), RT1
   transitions to slave state and adopts its neighbor's DD sequence
   number.  Database Description packets are then exchanged, with polls
   coming from the master (RT2) and responses from the slave (RT1).
   This sequence of Database Description Packets ends when both the poll
   and associated response has the M-bit off.

   In this example, it is assumed that RT2 has a completely up to date
   database.  In that case, RT2 goes immediately into Full state.  RT1
   will go into Full state after updating the necessary parts of its
   database.  This is done by sending Link State Request Packets, and
   receiving Link State Update Packets in response.  Note that, while
   RT1 has waited until a complete set of Database Description Packets
   has been received (from RT2) before sending any Link State Request
   Packets, this need not be the case.  RT1 could have interleaved the
   sending of Link State Request Packets with the reception of Database
   Description Packets.














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            +---+                                         +---+
            |RT1|                                         |RT2|
            +---+                                         +---+

            Down                                          Down
                            Hello(DR=0,seen=0)
                       ------------------------------>
                         Hello (DR=RT2,seen=RT1,...)      Init
                       <------------------------------
            ExStart        D-D (Seq=x,I,M,Master)
                       ------------------------------>
                           D-D (Seq=y,I,M,Master)         ExStart
                       <------------------------------
            Exchange       D-D (Seq=y,M,Slave)
                       ------------------------------>
                           D-D (Seq=y+1,M,Master)         Exchange
                       <------------------------------
                           D-D (Seq=y+1,M,Slave)
                       ------------------------------>
                                     ...
                                     ...
                                     ...
                           D-D (Seq=y+n, Master)
                       <------------------------------
                           D-D (Seq=y+n, Slave)
             Loading   ------------------------------>
                                 LS Request                Full
                       ------------------------------>
                                 LS Update
                       <------------------------------
                                 LS Request
                       ------------------------------>
                                 LS Update
                       <------------------------------
             Full


                Figure 14: An adjacency bring-up example













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11.  The Routing Table Structure

   The routing table data structure contains all the information
   necessary to forward an IP data packet toward its destination.  Each
   routing table entry describes the collection of best paths to a
   particular destination.  When forwarding an IP data packet, the
   routing table entry providing the best match for the packet's IP
   destination is located.  The matching routing table entry then
   provides the next hop towards the packet's destination.  OSPF also
   provides for the existence of a default route (Destination ID =
   DefaultDestination, Address Mask = 0x00000000).  When the default
   route exists, it matches all IP destinations (although any other
   matching entry is a better match). Finding the routing table entry
   that best matches an IP destination is further described in Section
   11.1.

   There is a single routing table in each router.  Two sample routing
   tables are described in Sections 11.2 and 11.3.  The building of the
   routing table is discussed in Section 16.

   The rest of this section defines the fields found in a routing table
   entry.  The first set of fields describes the routing table entry's
   destination.

   Destination Type
      Destination type is either "network" or "router". Only network entries
      are actually used when forwarding IP data traffic.  Router routing
      table entries are used solely as intermediate steps in the routing
      table build process.

      A network is a range of IP addresses, to which IP data traffic may be
      forwarded.  This includes IP networks (class A, B, or C), IP subnets,
      IP supernets and single IP hosts.  The default route also falls into
      this category.

      Router entries are kept for area border routers and AS boundary
      routers.  Routing table entries for area border routers are used when
      calculating the inter-area routes (see Section 16.2), and when
      maintaining configured virtual links (see Section 15).  Routing table
      entries for AS boundary routers are used when calculating the AS
      external routes (see Section 16.4).

   Destination ID
      The destination's identifier or name.  This depends on the
      Destination Type.  For networks, the identifier is their associated IP
      address.  For routers, the identifier is the OSPF Router ID.[9]





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   Address Mask
      Only defined for networks.  The network's IP address together with its
      address mask defines a range of IP addresses.  For IP subnets, the
      address mask is referred to as the subnet mask.  For host routes, the
      mask is "all ones" (0xffffffff).

   Optional Capabilities
      When the destination is a router this field indicates the optional
      OSPF capabilities supported by the destination router.  The only
      optional capability defined by this specification is the ability to
      process AS-external-LSAs.  For a further discussion of OSPF's optional
      capabilities, see Section 4.5.

   The set of paths to use for a destination may vary based on the OSPF
   area to which the paths belong.  This means that there may be
   multiple routing table entries for the same destination, depending on
   the values of the next field.

   Area
      This field indicates the area whose link state information has led
      to the routing table entry's collection of paths.  This is called
      the entry's associated area.  For sets of AS external paths, this
      field is not defined.  For destinations of type "router", there
      may be separate sets of paths (and therefore separate routing
      table entries) associated with each of several areas. For example,
      this will happen when two area border routers share multiple areas
      in common.  For destinations of type "network", only the set of
      paths associated with the best area (the one providing the
      preferred route) is kept.

   The rest of the routing table entry describes the set of paths to the
   destination.  The following fields pertain to the set of paths as a
   whole.  In other words, each one of the paths contained in a routing
   table entry is of the same path-type and cost (see below).

   Path-type
      There are four possible types of paths used to route traffic to
      the destination, listed here in order of preference: intra-area,
      inter-area, type 1 external or type 2 external.  Intra-area paths
      indicate destinations belonging to one of the router's attached
      areas.  Inter-area paths are paths to destinations in other OSPF
      areas.  These are discovered through the examination of received
      summary-LSAs.  AS external paths are paths to destinations
      external to the AS.  These are detected through the examination of
      received AS-external-LSAs.






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   Cost
      The link state cost of the path to the destination.  For all paths
      except type 2 external paths this describes the entire path's
      cost.  For Type 2 external paths, this field describes the cost of
      the portion of the path internal to the AS.  This cost is
      calculated as the sum of the costs of the path's constituent
      links.

   Type 2 cost
      Only valid for type 2 external paths.  For these paths, this field
      indicates the cost of the path's external portion.  This cost has
      been advertised by an AS boundary router, and is the most
      significant part of the total path cost.  For example, a type 2
      external path with type 2 cost of 5 is always preferred over a
      path with type 2 cost of 10, regardless of the cost of the two
      paths' internal components.

   Link State Origin
      Valid only for intra-area paths, this field indicates the LSA
      (router-LSA or network-LSA) that directly references the
      destination.  For example, if the destination is a transit
      network, this is the transit network's network-LSA.  If the
      destination is a stub network, this is the router-LSA for the
      attached router.  The LSA is discovered during the shortest-path
      tree calculation (see Section 16.1).  Multiple LSAs may reference
      the destination, however a tie-breaking scheme always reduces the
      choice to a single LSA. The Link State Origin field is not used by
      the OSPF protocol, but it is used by the routing table calculation
      in OSPF's Multicast routing extensions (MOSPF).

   When multiple paths of equal path-type and cost exist to a
   destination (called elsewhere "equal-cost" paths), they are stored in
   a single routing table entry.  Each one of the "equal-cost" paths is
   distinguished by the following fields:

   Next hop
      The outgoing router interface to use when forwarding traffic to
      the destination.  On broadcast, Point-to-MultiPoint and NBMA
      networks, the next hop also includes the IP address of the next
      router (if any) in the path towards the destination.

   Advertising router
      Valid only for inter-area and AS external paths.  This field
      indicates the Router ID of the router advertising the summary-LSA
      or AS-external-LSA that led to this path.






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11.1.  Routing table lookup

   When an IP data packet is received, an OSPF router finds the routing
   table entry that best matches the packet's destination.  This routing
   table entry then provides the outgoing interface and next hop router
   to use in forwarding the packet. This section describes the process
   of finding the best matching routing table entry. The process
   consists of a number of steps, wherein the collection of routing
   table entries is progressively pruned.  In the end, the single
   routing table entry remaining is called the "best match".

   Before the lookup begins, "discard" routing table entries should be
   inserted into the routing table for each of the router's active area
   address ranges (see Section 3.5).  (An area range is considered
   "active" if the range contains one or more networks reachable by
   intra-area paths.) The destination of a "discard" entry is the set of
   addresses described by its associated active area address range, and
   the path type of each "discard" entry is set to "inter-area".[10]

   Note that the steps described below may fail to produce a best match
   routing table entry (i.e., all existing routing table entries are
   pruned for some reason or another), or the best match routing table
   entry may be one of the above "discard" routing table entries. In
   these cases, the packet's IP destination is considered unreachable.
   Instead of being forwarded, the packet should be discarded and an
   ICMP destination unreachable message should be returned to the
   packet's source.

   (1) Select the complete set of "matching" routing table entries
       from the routing table.  Each routing table entry describes
       a (set of) path(s) to a range of IP addresses. If the data
       packet's IP destination falls into an entry's range of IP
       addresses, the routing table entry is called a match. (It is
       quite likely that multiple entries will match the data
       packet.  For example, a default route will match all
       packets.)

   (2) Reduce the set of matching entries to those having the most
       preferential path-type (see Section 11). OSPF has a four
       level hierarchy of paths. Intra-area paths are the most
       preferred, followed in order by inter-area, type 1 external
       and type 2 external paths.

   (3) Select the remaining routing table entry that provides the
       most specific (longest) match. Another way of saying this is
       to choose the remaining entry that specifies the narrowest
       range of IP addresses.[11] For example, the entry for the
       address/mask pair of (128.185.1.0, 0xffffff00) is more



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       specific than an entry for the pair (128.185.0.0,
       0xffff0000). The default route is the least specific match,
       since it matches all destinations.

11.2.  Sample routing table, without areas

   Consider the Autonomous System pictured in Figure 2.  No OSPF areas
   have been configured.  A single metric is shown per outbound
   interface.  The calculation of Router RT6's routing table proceeds as
   described in Section 2.2.  The resulting routing table is shown in
   Table 12.  Destination types are abbreviated: Network as "N", Router
   as "R".

   There are no instances of multiple equal-cost shortest paths in this
   example.  Also, since there are no areas, there are no inter-area
   paths.

   Routers RT5 and RT7 are AS boundary routers.  Intra-area routes have
   been calculated to Routers RT5 and RT7.  This allows external routes
   to be calculated to the destinations advertised by RT5 and RT7 (i.e.,
   Networks N12, N13, N14 and N15).  It is assumed all AS-external-LSAs
   originated by RT5 and RT7 are advertising type 1 external metrics.
   This results in type 1 external paths being calculated to
   destinations N12-N15.

11.3.  Sample routing table, with areas

   Consider the previous example, this time split into OSPF areas.  An
   OSPF area configuration is pictured in Figure 6.  Router RT4's
   routing table will be described for this area configuration.  Router
   RT4 has a connection to Area 1 and a backbone connection.  This
   causes Router RT4 to view the AS as the concatenation of the two
   graphs shown in Figures 7 and 8.  The resulting routing table is
   displayed in Table 13.

















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      Type   Dest   Area   Path  Type    Cost   Next     Adv.
                                                Hop(s)   Router(s)
      ____________________________________________________________
      N      N1     0      intra-area    10     RT3      *
      N      N2     0      intra-area    10     RT3      *
      N      N3     0      intra-area    7      RT3      *
      N      N4     0      intra-area    8      RT3      *
      N      Ib     0      intra-area    7      *        *
      N      Ia     0      intra-area    12     RT10     *
      N      N6     0      intra-area    8      RT10     *
      N      N7     0      intra-area    12     RT10     *
      N      N8     0      intra-area    10     RT10     *
      N      N9     0      intra-area    11     RT10     *
      N      N10    0      intra-area    13     RT10     *
      N      N11    0      intra-area    14     RT10     *
      N      H1     0      intra-area    21     RT10     *
      R      RT5    0      intra-area    6      RT5      *
      R      RT7    0      intra-area    8      RT10     *
      ____________________________________________________________
      N      N12    *      type 1 ext.   10     RT10     RT7
      N      N13    *      type 1 ext.   14     RT5      RT5
      N      N14    *      type 1 ext.   14     RT5      RT5
      N      N15    *      type 1 ext.   17     RT10     RT7


               Table 12: The routing table for Router RT6
                         (no configured areas).

   Again, Routers RT5 and RT7 are AS boundary routers.  Routers RT3,
   RT4, RT7, RT10 and RT11 are area border routers.  Note that there are
   two routing entries for the area border router RT3, since it has two
   areas in common with RT4 (Area 1 and the backbone).

   Backbone paths have been calculated to all area border routers.
   These are used when determining the inter-area routes.  Note that all
   of the inter-area routes are associated with the backbone; this is
   always the case when the calculating router is itself an area border
   router.  Routing information is condensed at area boundaries.  In
   this example, we assume that Area 3 has been defined so that networks
   N9-N11 and the host route to H1 are all condensed to a single route
   when advertised into the backbone (by Router RT11).  Note that the
   cost of this route is the maximum of the set of costs to its
   individual components.








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   There is a virtual link configured between Routers RT10 and RT11.
   Without this configured virtual link, RT11 would be unable to
   advertise a route for networks N9-N11 and Host H1 into the backbone,
   and there would not be an entry for these networks in Router RT4's
   routing table.

   In this example there are two equal-cost paths to Network N12.
   However, they both use the same next hop (Router RT5).


   Type   Dest        Area   Path  Type    Cost   Next      Adv.
                                                  Hops(s)   Router(s)
   __________________________________________________________________
   N      N1          1      intra-area    4      RT1       *
   N      N2          1      intra-area    4      RT2       *
   N      N3          1      intra-area    1      *         *
   N      N4          1      intra-area    3      RT3       *
   R      RT3         1      intra-area    1      *         *
   __________________________________________________________________
   N      Ib          0      intra-area    22     RT5       *
   N      Ia          0      intra-area    27     RT5       *
   R      RT3         0      intra-area    21     RT5       *
   R      RT5         0      intra-area    8      *         *
   R      RT7         0      intra-area    14     RT5       *
   R      RT10        0      intra-area    22     RT5       *
   R      RT11        0      intra-area    25     RT5       *
   __________________________________________________________________
   N      N6          0      inter-area    15     RT5       RT7
   N      N7          0      inter-area    19     RT5       RT7
   N      N8          0      inter-area    18     RT5       RT7
   N      N9-N11,H1   0      inter-area    36     RT5       RT11
   __________________________________________________________________
   N      N12         *      type 1 ext.   16     RT5       RT5,RT7
   N      N13         *      type 1 ext.   16     RT5       RT5
   N      N14         *      type 1 ext.   16     RT5       RT5
   N      N15         *      type 1 ext.   23     RT5       RT7

                  Table 13: Router RT4's routing table
                       in the presence of areas.


   Router RT4's routing table would improve (i.e., some of the paths in
   the routing table would become shorter) if an additional virtual link
   were configured between Router RT4 and Router RT3.  The new virtual
   link would itself be associated with the first entry for area border
   router RT3 in Table 13 (an intra-area path through Area 1).  This
   would yield a cost of 1 for the virtual link.  The routing table
   entries changes that would be caused by the addition of this virtual



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   link are shown in Table 14.

12.  Link State Advertisements (LSAs)

   Each router in the Autonomous System originates one or more link
   state advertisements (LSAs).  This memo defines five distinct types
   of LSAs, which are described in Section 4.3.  The collection of LSAs
   forms the link-state database.  Each separate type of LSA has a
   separate function. Router-LSAs and network-LSAs describe how an
   area's routers and networks are interconnected.  Summary-LSAs provide
   a way of condensing an area's routing information. AS-external-LSAs
   provide a way of transparently advertising externally-derived routing
   information throughout the Autonomous System.

   Each LSA begins with a standard 20-byte header.  This LSA header is
   discussed below.

    Type   Dest        Area   Path  Type   Cost   Next     Adv.
                                                  Hop(s)   Router(s)
    ________________________________________________________________
    N      Ib          0      intra-area   16     RT3      *
    N      Ia          0      intra-area   21     RT3      *
    R      RT3         0      intra-area   1      *        *
    R      RT10        0      intra-area   16     RT3      *
    R      RT11        0      intra-area   19     RT3      *
    ________________________________________________________________
    N      N9-N11,H1   0      inter-area   30     RT3      RT11


                  Table 14: Changes resulting from an
                        additional virtual link.

12.1.  The LSA Header

   The LSA header contains the LS type, Link State ID and Advertising
   Router fields.  The combination of these three fields uniquely
   identifies the LSA.

   There may be several instances of an LSA present in the Autonomous
   System, all at the same time.  It must then be determined which
   instance is more recent.  This determination is made by examining the
   LS sequence, LS checksum and LS age fields.  These fields are also
   contained in the 20-byte LSA header.

   Several of the OSPF packet types list LSAs.  When the instance is not
   important, an LSA is referred to by its LS type, Link State ID and
   Advertising Router (see Link State Request Packets).  Otherwise, the
   LS sequence number, LS age and LS checksum fields must also be



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   referenced.

   A detailed explanation of the fields contained in the LSA header
   follows.

12.1.1.  LS age

   This field is the age of the LSA in seconds.  It should be processed
   as an unsigned 16-bit integer.  It is set to 0 when the LSA is
   originated.  It must be incremented by InfTransDelay on every hop of
   the flooding procedure.  LSAs are also aged as they are held in each
   router's database.

   The age of an LSA is never incremented past MaxAge.  LSAs having age
   MaxAge are not used in the routing table calculation.  When an LSA's
   age first reaches MaxAge, it is reflooded. An LSA of age MaxAge is
   finally flushed from the database when it is no longer needed to
   ensure database synchronization.  For more information on the aging
   of LSAs, consult Section 14.

   The LS age field is examined when a router receives two instances of
   an LSA, both having identical LS sequence numbers and LS checksums.
   An instance of age MaxAge is then always accepted as most recent;
   this allows old LSAs to be flushed quickly from the routing domain.
   Otherwise, if the ages differ by more than MaxAgeDiff, the instance
   having the smaller age is accepted as most recent.[12] See Section
   13.1 for more details.

12.1.2.  Options

   The Options field in the LSA header indicates which optional
   capabilities are associated with the LSA.  OSPF's optional
   capabilities are described in Section 4.5. One optional capability is
   defined by this specification, represented by the E-bit found in the
   Options field.  The unrecognized bits in the Options field should be
   set to zero.  The E-bit represents OSPF's ExternalRoutingCapability.
   This bit should be set in all LSAs associated with the backbone, and
   all LSAs associated with non-stub areas (see Section 3.6).  It should
   also be set in all AS-external-LSAs.  It should be reset in all
   router-LSAs, network-LSAs and summary-LSAs associated with a stub
   area.  For all LSAs, the setting of the E-bit is for informational
   purposes only; it does not affect the routing table calculation.









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12.1.3.  LS type

   The LS type field dictates the format and function of the LSA.  LSAs
   of different types have different names (e.g., router-LSAs or
   network-LSAs).  All LSA types defined by this memo, except the AS-
   external-LSAs (LS type = 5), are flooded throughout a single area
   only.  AS-external-LSAs are flooded throughout the entire Autonomous
   System, excepting stub areas (see Section 3.6).  Each separate LSA
   type is briefly described below in Table 15.

12.1.4.  Link State ID

   This field identifies the piece of the routing domain that is being
   described by the LSA.  Depending on the LSA's LS type, the Link State
   ID takes on the values listed in Table 16.

   Actually, for Type 3 summary-LSAs (LS type = 3) and AS-external-LSAs
   (LS type = 5), the Link State ID may additionally have one or more of
   the destination network's "host" bits set. For example, when
   originating an AS-external-LSA for the network 10.0.0.0 with mask of
   255.0.0.0, the Link State ID can be set to anything in the range
   10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 inclusive (although 10.0.0.0 should
   be used whenever possible). The freedom to set certain host bits
   allows a router to originate separate LSAs for two networks having
   the same address but different masks. See Appendix E for details.


























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            LS Type   LSA description
            ________________________________________________
            1         These are the router-LSAs.
                      They describe the collected
                       states of the router's
                      interfaces. For more information,
                      consult Section 12.4.1.
            ________________________________________________
            2         These are the network-LSAs.
                      They describe the set of routers
                      attached to the network. For
                      more information, consult
                      Section 12.4.2.
            ________________________________________________
            3 or 4    These are the summary-LSAs.
                      They describe inter-area routes,
                      and enable the condensation of
                      routing information at area
                      borders. Originated by area border
                      routers, the Type 3 summary-LSAs
                      describe routes to networks while the
                      Type 4 summary-LSAs describe routes to
                      AS boundary routers.
            ________________________________________________
            5         These are the AS-external-LSAs.
                      Originated by AS boundary routers,
                      they describe routes
                      to destinations external to the
                      Autonomous System. A default route for
                      the Autonomous System can also be
                      described by an AS-external-LSA.

            Table 15: OSPF link state advertisements (LSAs).

            LS Type   Link State ID
            _______________________________________________
            1         The originating router's Router ID.
            2         The IP interface address of the
                      network's Designated Router.
            3         The destination network's IP address.
            4         The Router ID of the described AS
                      boundary router.
            5         The destination network's IP address.


                   Table 16: The LSA's Link State ID.





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   When the LSA is describing a network (LS type = 2, 3 or 5), the
   network's IP address is easily derived by masking the Link State ID
   with the network/subnet mask contained in the body of the LSA.  When
   the LSA is describing a router (LS type = 1 or 4), the Link State ID
   is always the described router's OSPF Router ID.

   When an AS-external-LSA (LS Type = 5) is describing a default route,
   its Link State ID is set to DefaultDestination (0.0.0.0).

12.1.5.  Advertising Router

   This field specifies the OSPF Router ID of the LSA's originator.  For
   router-LSAs, this field is identical to the Link State ID field.
   Network-LSAs are originated by the network's Designated Router.
   Summary-LSAs originated by area border routers.  AS-external-LSAs are
   originated by AS boundary routers.

12.1.6.  LS sequence number


   The sequence number field is a signed 32-bit integer.  It is used to
   detect old and duplicate LSAs.  The space of sequence numbers is
   linearly ordered.  The larger the sequence number (when compared as
   signed 32-bit integers) the more recent the LSA.  To describe to
   sequence number space more precisely, let N refer in the discussion
   below to the constant 2**31.

   The sequence number -N (0x80000000) is reserved (and unused).  This
   leaves -N + 1 (0x80000001) as the smallest (and therefore oldest)
   sequence number; this sequence number is referred to as the constant
   InitialSequenceNumber. A router uses InitialSequenceNumber the first
   time it originates any LSA.  Afterwards, the LSA's sequence number is
   incremented each time the router originates a new instance of the
   LSA.  When an attempt is made to increment the sequence number past
   the maximum value of N - 1 (0x7fffffff; also referred to as
   MaxSequenceNumber), the current instance of the LSA must first be
   flushed from the routing domain.  This is done by prematurely aging
   the LSA (see Section 14.1) and reflooding it.  As soon as this flood
   has been acknowledged by all adjacent neighbors, a new instance can
   be originated with sequence number of InitialSequenceNumber.

   The router may be forced to promote the sequence number of one of its
   LSAs when a more recent instance of the LSA is unexpectedly received
   during the flooding process. This should be a rare event.  This may
   indicate that an out-of-date LSA, originated by the router itself
   before its last restart/reload, still exists in the Autonomous
   System.  For more information see Section 13.4.




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12.1.7.  LS checksum

   This field is the checksum of the complete contents of the LSA,
   excepting the LS age field.  The LS age field is excepted so that an
   LSA's age can be incremented without updating the checksum.  The
   checksum used is the same that is used for ISO connectionless
   datagrams; it is commonly referred to as the Fletcher checksum.  It
   is documented in Annex B of [Ref6]. The LSA header also contains the
   length of the LSA in bytes; subtracting the size of the LS age field
   (two bytes) yields the amount of data to checksum.

   The checksum is used to detect data corruption of an LSA.  This
   corruption can occur while an LSA is being flooded, or while it is
   being held in a router's memory.  The LS checksum field cannot take
   on the value of zero; the occurrence of such a value should be
   considered a checksum failure.  In other words, calculation of the
   checksum is not optional.

   The checksum of an LSA is verified in two cases: a) when it is
   received in a Link State Update Packet and b) at times during the
   aging of the link state database.  The detection of a checksum
   failure leads to separate actions in each case.  See Sections 13 and
   14 for more details.

   Whenever the LS sequence number field indicates that two instances of
   an LSA are the same, the LS checksum field is examined.  If there is
   a difference, the instance with the larger LS checksum is considered
   to be most recent.[13] See Section 13.1 for more details.

12.2.  The link state database

   A router has a separate link state database for every area to which
   it belongs. All routers belonging to the same area have identical
   link state databases for the area.

   The databases for each individual area are always dealt with
   separately.  The shortest path calculation is performed separately
   for each area (see Section 16).  Components of the area link-state
   database are flooded throughout the area only.  Finally, when an
   adjacency (belonging to Area A) is being brought up, only the
   database for Area A is synchronized between the two routers.

   The area database is composed of router-LSAs, network-LSAs and
   summary-LSAs (all listed in the area data structure).  In addition,
   external routes (AS-external-LSAs) are included in all non-stub area
   databases (see Section 3.6).





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   An implementation of OSPF must be able to access individual pieces of
   an area database.  This lookup function is based on an LSA's LS type,
   Link State ID and Advertising Router.[14] There will be a single
   instance (the most up-to-date) of each LSA in the database.  The
   database lookup function is invoked during the LSA flooding procedure
   (Section 13) and the routing table calculation (Section 16).  In
   addition, using this lookup function the router can determine whether
   it has itself ever originated a particular LSA, and if so, with what
   LS sequence number.

   An LSA is added to a router's database when either a) it is received
   during the flooding process (Section 13) or b) it is originated by
   the router itself (Section 12.4).  An LSA is deleted from a router's
   database when either a) it has been overwritten by a newer instance
   during the flooding process (Section 13) or b) the router originates
   a newer instance of one of its self-originated LSAs (Section 12.4) or
   c) the LSA ages out and is flushed from the routing domain (Section
   14).

   Whenever an LSA is deleted from the database it must also be removed
   from all neighbors' Link state retransmission lists (see Section 10).

12.3.  Representation of TOS

   For backward compatibility with previous versions of the OSPF
   specification ([Ref9]), TOS-specific information can be included in
   router-LSAs, summary-LSAs and AS-external-LSAs.  The encoding of TOS
   in OSPF LSAs is specified in Table 17. That table relates the OSPF
   encoding to the IP packet header's TOS field (defined in [Ref12]).
   The OSPF encoding is expressed as a decimal integer, and the IP
   packet header's TOS field is expressed in the binary TOS values used
   in [Ref12].



















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                    OSPF encoding   RFC 1349 TOS values
                    ___________________________________________
                    0               0000 normal service
                    2               0001 minimize monetary cost
                    4               0010 maximize reliability
                    6               0011
                    8               0100 maximize throughput
                    10              0101
                    12              0110
                    14              0111
                    16              1000 minimize delay
                    18              1001
                    20              1010
                    22              1011
                    24              1100
                    26              1101
                    28              1110
                    30              1111

                  Table 17: Representing TOS in OSPF.

12.4.  Originating LSAs

   Into any given OSPF area, a router will originate several LSAs.  Each
   router originates a router-LSA.  If the router is also the Designated
   Router for any of the area's networks, it will originate network-LSAs
   for those networks.

   Area border routers originate a single summary-LSA for each known
   inter-area destination.  AS boundary routers originate a single AS-
   external-LSA for each known AS external destination.  Destinations
   are advertised one at a time so that the change in any single route
   can be flooded without reflooding the entire collection of routes.
   During the flooding procedure, many LSAs can be carried by a single
   Link State Update packet.

   As an example, consider Router RT4 in Figure 6.  It is an area border
   router, having a connection to Area 1 and the backbone.  Router RT4
   originates 5 distinct LSAs into the backbone (one router-LSA, and one
   summary-LSA for each of the networks N1-N4).  Router RT4 will also
   originate 8 distinct LSAs into Area 1 (one router-LSA and seven
   summary-LSAs as pictured in Figure 7).  If RT4 has been selected as
   Designated Router for Network N3, it will also originate a network-
   LSA for N3 into Area 1.

   In this same figure, Router RT5 will be originating 3 distinct AS-
   external-LSAs (one for each of the networks N12-N14).  These will be
   flooded throughout the entire AS, assuming that none of the areas



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   have been configured as stubs.  However, if area 3 has been
   configured as a stub area, the AS-external-LSAs for networks N12-N14
   will not be flooded into area 3 (see Section 3.6).  Instead, Router
   RT11 would originate a default summary- LSA that would be flooded
   throughout area 3 (see Section 12.4.3).  This instructs all of area
   3's internal routers to send their AS external traffic to RT11.

   Whenever a new instance of an LSA is originated, its LS sequence
   number is incremented, its LS age is set to 0, its LS checksum is
   calculated, and the LSA is added to the link state database and
   flooded out the appropriate interfaces.  See Section 13.2 for details
   concerning the installation of the LSA into the link state database.
   See Section 13.3 for details concerning the flooding of newly
   originated LSAs.

   The ten events that can cause a new instance of an LSA to be
   originated are:

   (1) The LS age field of one of the router's self-originated LSAs
       reaches the value LSRefreshTime. In this case, a new
       instance of the LSA is originated, even though the contents
       of the LSA (apart from the LSA header) will be the same.
       This guarantees periodic originations of all LSAs.  This
       periodic updating of LSAs adds robustness to the link state
       algorithm.  LSAs that solely describe unreachable
       destinations should not be refreshed, but should instead be
       flushed from the routing domain (see Section 14.1).

   When whatever is being described by an LSA changes, a new LSA is
   originated.  However, two instances of the same LSA may not be
   originated within the time period MinLSInterval.  This may require
   that the generation of the next instance be delayed by up to
   MinLSInterval.  The following events may cause the contents of an LSA
   to change.  These events should cause new originations if and only if
   the contents of the new LSA would be different:

   (2) An interface's state changes (see Section 9.1).  This may
       mean that it is necessary to produce a new instance of the
       router-LSA.

   (3) An attached network's Designated Router changes.  A new
       router-LSA should be originated.  Also, if the router itself
       is now the Designated Router, a new network-LSA should be
       produced.  If the router itself is no longer the Designated
       Router, any network-LSA that it might have originated for
       the network should be flushed from the routing domain (see
       Section 14.1).




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   (4) One of the neighboring routers changes to/from the FULL
       state.  This may mean that it is necessary to produce a new
       instance of the router-LSA.  Also, if the router is itself
       the Designated Router for the attached network, a new
       network-LSA should be produced.

   The next four events concern area border routers only:

   (5) An intra-area route has been added/deleted/modified in the
       routing table.  This may cause a new instance of a summary-
       LSA (for this route) to be originated in each attached area
       (possibly including the backbone).

   (6) An inter-area route has been added/deleted/modified in the
       routing table.  This may cause a new instance of a summary-
       LSA (for this route) to be originated in each attached area
       (but NEVER for the backbone).

   (7) The router becomes newly attached to an area.  The router
       must then originate summary-LSAs into the newly attached
       area for all pertinent intra-area and inter-area routes in
       the router's routing table.  See Section 12.4.3 for more
       details.

   (8) When the state of one of the router's configured virtual
       links changes, it may be necessary to originate a new
       router-LSA into the virtual link's Transit area (see the
       discussion of the router-LSA's bit V in Section 12.4.1), as
       well as originating a new router-LSA into the backbone.

   The last two events concern AS boundary routers (and former AS
   boundary routers) only:

   (9) An external route gained through direct experience with an
       external routing protocol (like BGP) changes.  This will
       cause an AS boundary router to originate a new instance of
       an AS-external-LSA.

   (10)
       A router ceases to be an AS boundary router, perhaps after
       restarting. In this situation the router should flush all
       AS-external-LSAs that it had previously originated.  These
       LSAs can be flushed via the premature aging procedure
       specified in Section 14.1.







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   The construction of each type of LSA is explained in detail below. In
   general, these sections describe the contents of the LSA body (i.e.,
   the part coming after the 20-byte LSA header).  For information
   concerning the building of the LSA header, see Section 12.1.

12.4.1.  Router-LSAs

   A router originates a router-LSA for each area that it belongs to.
   Such an LSA describes the collected states of the router's links to
   the area.  The LSA is flooded throughout the particular area, and no
   further.  The format of a router-LSA is shown in Appendix A (Section
   A.4.2).  The first 20 bytes of the LSA consist of the generic LSA
   header that was discussed in Section 12.1.  router-LSAs have LS type
   = 1.

   A router also indicates whether it is an area border router, or an AS
   boundary router, by setting the appropriate bits

                  ....................................
                  . 192.1.2                   Area 1 .
                  .     +                            .
                  .     |                            .
                  .     | 3+---+1                    .
                  .  N1 |--|RT1|-----+               .
                  .     |  +---+      \              .
                  .     |              \  _______N3  .
                  .     +               \/       \   .  1+---+
                  .                     * 192.1.1 *------|RT4|
                  .     +               /\_______/   .   +---+
                  .     |              /     |       .
                  .     | 3+---+1     /      |       .
                  .  N2 |--|RT2|-----+      1|       .
                  .     |  +---+           +---+8    .         6+---+
                  .     |                  |RT3|----------------|RT6|
                  .     +                  +---+     .          +---+
                  . 192.1.3                  |2      .   18.10.0.6|7
                  .                          |       .            |
                  .                   +------------+ .
                  .                     192.1.4 (N4) .
                  ....................................

               Figure 15: Area 1 with IP addresses shown

   (bit B and bit E, respectively) in its router-LSAs. This enables
   paths to those types of routers to be saved in the routing table, for
   later processing of summary-LSAs and AS-external-LSAs.  Bit B should
   be set whenever the router is actively attached to two or more areas,
   even if the router is not currently attached to the OSPF backbone



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   area.  Bit E should never be set in a router-LSA for a stub area
   (stub areas cannot contain AS boundary routers).

   In addition, the router sets bit V in its router-LSA for Area A if
   and only if the router is the endpoint of one or more fully adjacent
   virtual links having Area A as their Transit area. The setting of bit
   V enables other routers in Area A to discover whether the area
   supports transit traffic (see TransitCapability in Section 6).

   The router-LSA then describes the router's working connections (i.e.,
   interfaces or links) to the area.  Each link is typed according to
   the kind of attached network.  Each link is also labelled with its
   Link ID.  This Link ID gives a name to the entity that is on the
   other end of the link.  Table 18 summarizes the values used for the
   Type and Link ID fields.

           Link type   Description       Link ID
           __________________________________________________
           1           Point-to-point    Neighbor Router ID
                       link
           2           Link to transit   Interface address of
                       network           Designated Router
           3           Link to stub      IP network number
                       network
           4           Virtual link      Neighbor Router ID

                   Table 18: Link descriptions in the
                              router-LSA.

   In addition, the Link Data field is specified for each link.  This
   field gives 32 bits of extra information for the link.  For links to
   transit networks, numbered point-to-point links and virtual links,
   this field specifies the IP interface address of the associated
   router interface (this is needed by the routing table calculation,
   see Section 16.1.1).  For links to stub networks, this field
   specifies the stub network's IP address mask. For unnumbered point-
   to-point links, the Link Data field should be set to the unnumbered
   interface's MIB-II [Ref8] ifIndex value.

   Finally, the cost of using the link for output is specified.  The
   output cost of a link is configurable. With the exception of links to
   stub networks, the output cost must always be non-zero.

   To further describe the process of building the list of link
   descriptions, suppose a router wishes to build a router-LSA for Area
   A.  The router examines its collection of interface data structures.
   For each interface, the following steps are taken:




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   o    If the attached network does not belong to Area A, no
       links are added to the LSA, and the next interface should be
       examined.

   o    If the state of the interface is Down, no links are added.

   o    If the state of the interface is Loopback, add a Type 3
       link (stub network) as long as this is not an interface to an
       unnumbered point-to-point network.  The Link ID should be set to
       the IP interface address, the Link Data set to the
       mask 0xffffffff (indicating a host route), and the cost set to 0.

   o   Otherwise, the link descriptions added to the router-LSA
       depend on the OSPF interface type. Link descriptions used for
       point-to-point interfaces are specified in Section 12.4.1.1, for
       virtual links in Section 12.4.1.2, for broadcast and NBMA
       interfaces in 12.4.1.3, and for Point-to-MultiPoint interfaces in
       12.4.1.4.

   After consideration of all the router interfaces, host links are
   added to the router-LSA by examining the list of attached hosts
   belonging to Area A.  A host route is represented as a Type 3 link
   (stub network) whose Link ID is the host's IP address, Link Data is
   the mask of all ones (0xffffffff), and cost the host's configured
   cost (see Section C.7).

12.4.1.1.  Describing point-to-point interfaces

   For point-to-point interfaces, one or more link descriptions are
   added to the router-LSA as follows:

   o   If the neighboring router is fully adjacent, add a
       Type 1 link (point-to-point). The Link ID should be set to the
       Router ID of the neighboring router. For numbered point-to-point
       networks, the Link Data should specify the IP interface address.
       For unnumbered point-to-point networks, the Link Data field
       should specify the interface's MIB-II [Ref8] ifIndex value. The
       cost should be set to the output cost of the point-to-point
       interface.

   o   In addition, as long as the state of the interface
       is "Point-to-Point" (and regardless of the neighboring router
       state), a Type 3 link (stub network) should be added. There are
       two forms that this stub link can take:







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   Option 1
      Assuming that the neighboring router's IP address is known, set
      the Link ID of the Type 3 link to the neighbor's IP address, the
      Link Data to the mask 0xffffffff (indicating a host route), and
      the cost to the interface's configured output cost.[15]

   Option 2
      If a subnet has been assigned to the point-to-point link, set the
      Link ID of the Type 3 link to the subnet's IP address, the Link
      Data to the subnet's mask, and the cost to the interface's
      configured output cost.[16]

12.4.1.2.  Describing broadcast and NBMA interfaces

   For operational broadcast and NBMA interfaces, a single link
   description is added to the router-LSA as follows:

   o   If the state of the interface is Waiting, add a Type
       3 link (stub network) with Link ID set to the IP network number
       of the attached network, Link Data set to the attached network's
       address mask, and cost equal to the interface's configured output
       cost.

   o   Else, there has been a Designated Router elected for
       the attached network.  If the router is fully adjacent to the
       Designated Router, or if the router itself is Designated Router
       and is fully adjacent to at least one other router, add a single
       Type 2 link (transit network) with Link ID set to the IP
       interface address of the attached network's Designated Router
       (which may be the router itself), Link Data set to the router's
       own IP interface address, and cost equal to the interface's
       configured output cost.  Otherwise, add a link as if the
       interface state were Waiting (see above).

12.4.1.3.  Describing virtual links

   For virtual links, a link description is added to the router-LSA only
   when the virtual neighbor is fully adjacent. In this case, add a Type
   4 link (virtual link) with Link ID set to the Router ID of the
   virtual neighbor, Link Data set to the IP interface address
   associated with the virtual link and cost set to the cost calculated
   for the virtual link during the routing table calculation (see
   Section 15).








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12.4.1.4.  Describing Point-to-MultiPoint interfaces

   For operational Point-to-MultiPoint interfaces, one or more link
   descriptions are added to the router-LSA as follows:

   o   A single Type 3 link (stub network) is added with
       Link ID set to the router's own IP interface address, Link Data
       set to the mask 0xffffffff (indicating a host route), and cost
       set to 0.

   o   For each fully adjacent neighbor associated with the
       interface, add an additional Type 1 link (point-to-point) with
       Link ID set to the Router ID of the neighboring router, Link Data
       set to the IP interface address and cost equal to the interface's
       configured output cost.

12.4.1.5.  Examples of router-LSAs

   Consider the router-LSAs generated by Router RT3, as pictured in
   Figure 6.  The area containing Router RT3 (Area 1) has been redrawn,
   with actual network addresses, in Figure 15.  Assume that the last
   byte of all of RT3's interface addresses is 3, giving it the
   interface addresses 192.1.1.3 and 192.1.4.3, and that the other
   routers have similar addressing schemes.  In addition, assume that
   all links are functional, and that Router IDs are assigned as the
   smallest IP interface address.

   RT3 originates two router-LSAs, one for Area 1 and one for the
   backbone.  Assume that Router RT4 has been selected as the Designated
   router for network 192.1.1.0.  RT3's router-LSA for Area 1 is then
   shown below.  It indicates that RT3 has two connections to Area 1,
   the first a link to the transit network 192.1.1.0 and the second a
   link to the stub network 192.1.4.0.  Note that the transit network is
   identified by the IP interface of its Designated Router (i.e., the
   Link ID = 192.1.1.4 which is the Designated Router RT4's IP interface
   to 192.1.1.0).  Note also that RT3 has indicated that it is an area
   border router.














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     ; RT3's router-LSA for Area 1

     LS age = 0                     ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)              ;
     LS type = 1                    ;indicates router-LSA
     Link State ID = 192.1.1.3      ;RT3's Router ID
     Advertising Router = 192.1.1.3 ;RT3's Router ID
     bit E = 0                      ;not an AS boundary router
     bit B = 1                      ;area border router
     #links = 2
            Link ID = 192.1.1.4     ;IP address of Desig. Rtr.
            Link Data = 192.1.1.3   ;RT3's IP interface to net
            Type = 2                ;connects to transit network
            # TOS metrics = 0
            metric = 1

            Link ID = 192.1.4.0     ;IP Network number
            Link Data = 0xffffff00  ;Network mask
            Type = 3                ;connects to stub network
            # TOS metrics = 0
            metric = 2

   Next RT3's router-LSA for the backbone is shown.  It indicates that
   RT3 has a single attachment to the backbone.  This attachment is via
   an unnumbered point-to-point link to Router RT6.  RT3 has again
   indicated that it is an area border router.


     ; RT3's router-LSA for the backbone

     LS age = 0                     ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)              ;
     LS type = 1                    ;indicates router-LSA
     Link State ID = 192.1.1.3      ;RT3's router ID
     Advertising Router = 192.1.1.3 ;RT3's router ID
     bit E = 0                      ;not an AS boundary router
     bit B = 1                      ;area border router
     #links = 1
            Link ID = 18.10.0.6     ;Neighbor's Router ID
            Link Data = 0.0.0.3     ;MIB-II ifIndex of P-P link
            Type = 1                ;connects to router
            # TOS metrics = 0
            metric = 8








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12.4.2.  Network-LSAs

   A network-LSA is generated for every transit broadcast or NBMA
   network.  (A transit network is a network having two or more attached
   routers).  The network-LSA describes all the routers that are
   attached to the network.

   The Designated Router for the network originates the LSA.  The
   Designated Router originates the LSA only if it is fully adjacent to
   at least one other router on the network.  The network-LSA is flooded
   throughout the area that contains the transit network, and no
   further.  The network-LSA lists those routers that are fully adjacent
   to the Designated Router; each fully adjacent router is identified by
   its OSPF Router ID. The Designated Router includes itself in this
   list.

   The Link State ID for a network-LSA is the IP interface address of
   the Designated Router.  This value, masked by the network's address
   mask (which is also contained in the network-LSA) yields the
   network's IP address.

   A router that has formerly been the Designated Router for a network,
   but is no longer, should flush the network-LSA that it had previously
   originated.  This LSA is no longer used in the routing table
   calculation.  It is flushed by prematurely incrementing the LSA's age
   to MaxAge and reflooding (see Section 14.1). In addition, in those
   rare cases where a router's Router ID has changed, any network-LSAs
   that were originated with the router's previous Router ID must be
   flushed. Since the router may have no idea what it's previous Router
   ID might have been, these network-LSAs are indicated by having their
   Link State ID equal to one of the router's IP interface addresses and
   their Advertising Router equal to some value other than the router's
   current Router ID (see Section 13.4 for more details).

12.4.2.1.  Examples of network-LSAs

   Again consider the area configuration in Figure 6.  Network-LSAs are
   originated for Network N3 in Area 1, Networks N6 and N8 in Area 2,
   and Network N9 in Area 3.  Assuming that Router RT4 has been selected
   as the Designated Router for Network N3, the following network-LSA is
   generated by RT4 on behalf of Network N3 (see Figure 15 for the
   address assignments):









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     ; Network-LSA for Network N3

     LS age = 0                     ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)              ;
     LS type = 2                    ;indicates network-LSA
     Link State ID = 192.1.1.4      ;IP address of Desig. Rtr.
     Advertising Router = 192.1.1.4 ;RT4's Router ID
     Network Mask = 0xffffff00
            Attached Router = 192.1.1.4    ;Router ID
            Attached Router = 192.1.1.1    ;Router ID
            Attached Router = 192.1.1.2    ;Router ID
            Attached Router = 192.1.1.3    ;Router ID

12.4.3.  Summary-LSAs

   The destination described by a summary-LSA is either an IP network,
   an AS boundary router or a range of IP addresses.  Summary-LSAs are
   flooded throughout a single area only.  The destination described is
   one that is external to the area, yet still belongs to the Autonomous
   System.

   Summary-LSAs are originated by area border routers.  The precise
   summary routes to advertise into an area are determined by examining
   the routing table structure (see Section 11) in accordance with the
   algorithm described below. Note that only intra-area routes are
   advertised into the backbone, while both intra-area and inter-area
   routes are advertised into the other areas.

   To determine which routes to advertise into an attached Area A, each
   routing table entry is processed as follows.  Remember that each
   routing table entry describes a set of equal-cost best paths to a
   particular destination:

   o  Only Destination Types of network and AS boundary router
      are advertised in summary-LSAs.  If the routing table entry's
      Destination Type is area border router, examine the next routing
      table entry.

   o  AS external routes are never advertised in summary-LSAs.
      If the routing table entry has Path-type of type 1 external or
      type 2 external, examine the next routing table entry.

   o  Else, if the area associated with this set of paths is
      the Area A itself, do not generate a summary-LSA for the
      route.[17]






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   o  Else, if the next hops associated with this set of paths
      belong to Area A itself, do not generate a summary-LSA for the
      route.[18] This is the logical equivalent of a Distance Vector
      protocol's split horizon logic.

   o  Else, if the routing table cost equals or exceeds the
      value LSInfinity, a summary-LSA cannot be generated for this
      route.

   o  Else, if the destination of this route is an AS boundary
      router, a summary-LSA should be originated if and only if the
      routing table entry describes the preferred path to the AS
      boundary router (see Step 3 of Section 16.4).  If so, a Type 4
      summary-LSA is originated for the destination, with Link State ID
      equal to the AS boundary router's Router ID and metric equal to
      the routing table entry's cost. Note: these LSAs should not be
      generated if Area A has been configured as a stub area.

   o  Else, the Destination type is network. If this is an
      inter-area route, generate a Type 3 summary-LSA for the
      destination, with Link State ID equal to the network's address (if
      necessary, the Link State ID can also have one or more of the
      network's host bits set; see Appendix E for details) and metric
      equal to the routing table cost.

   o  The one remaining case is an intra-area route to a network.  This
      means that the network is contained in one of the router's
      directly attached areas.  In general, this information must be
      condensed before appearing in summary-LSAs.  Remember that an area
      has a configured list of address ranges, each range consisting of
      an [address,mask] pair and a status indication of either Advertise
      or DoNotAdvertise.  At most a single Type 3 summary-LSA is
      originated for each range. When the range's status indicates
      Advertise, a Type 3 summary-LSA is generated with Link State ID
      equal to the range's address (if necessary, the Link State ID can
      also have one or more of the range's "host" bits set; see Appendix
      E for details) and cost equal to the largest cost of any of the
      component networks. When the range's status indicates
      DoNotAdvertise, the Type 3 summary-LSA is suppressed and the
      component networks remain hidden from other areas.

   By default, if a network is not contained in any explicitly
   configured address range, a Type 3 summary-LSA is generated with Link
   State ID equal to the network's address (if necessary, the Link State
   ID can also have one or more of the network's "host" bits set; see
   Appendix E for details) and metric equal to the network's routing
   table cost.




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   If an area is capable of carrying transit traffic (i.e., its
   TransitCapability is set to TRUE), routing information concerning
   backbone networks should not be condensed before being summarized
   into the area.  Nor should the advertisement of backbone networks
   into transit areas be suppressed.  In other words, the backbone's
   configured ranges should be ignored when originating summary-LSAs
   into transit areas.

   If a router advertises a summary-LSA for a destination which then
   becomes unreachable, the router must then flush the LSA from the
   routing domain by setting its age to MaxAge and reflooding (see
   Section 14.1).  Also, if the destination is still reachable, yet can
   no longer be advertised according to the above procedure (e.g., it is
   now an inter-area route, when it used to be an intra-area route
   associated with some non-backbone area; it would thus no longer be
   advertisable to the backbone), the LSA should also be flushed from
   the routing domain.

12.4.3.1.  Originating summary-LSAs into stub areas

   The algorithm in Section 12.4.3 is optional when Area A is an OSPF
   stub area. Area border routers connecting to a stub area can
   originate summary-LSAs into the area according to the Section
   12.4.3's algorithm, or can choose to originate only a subset of the
   summary-LSAs, possibly under configuration control.  The fewer LSAs
   originated, the smaller the stub area's link state database, further
   reducing the demands on its routers' resources. However, omitting
   LSAs may also lead to sub-optimal inter-area routing, although
   routing will continue to function.

   As specified in Section 12.4.3, Type 4 summary-LSAs (ASBR-summary-
   LSAs) are never originated into stub areas.

   In a stub area, instead of importing external routes each area border
   router originates a "default summary-LSA" into the area. The Link
   State ID for the default summary-LSA is set to DefaultDestination,
   and the metric set to the (per-area) configurable parameter
   StubDefaultCost.  Note that StubDefaultCost need not be configured
   identically in all of the stub area's area border routers.

12.4.3.2.  Examples of summary-LSAs

   Consider again the area configuration in Figure 6.  Routers RT3, RT4,
   RT7, RT10 and RT11 are all area border routers, and therefore are
   originating summary-LSAs.  Consider in particular Router RT4.  Its
   routing table was calculated as the example in Section 11.3. RT4
   originates summary-LSAs into both the backbone and Area 1.  Into the
   backbone, Router RT4 originates separate LSAs for each of the



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   networks N1-N4.  Into Area 1, Router RT4 originates separate LSAs for
   networks N6-N8 and the AS boundary routers RT5,RT7.  It also
   condenses host routes Ia and Ib into a single summary-LSA.  Finally,
   the routes to networks N9,N10,N11 and Host H1 are advertised by a
   single summary-LSA.  This condensation was originally performed by
   the router RT11.

   These LSAs are illustrated graphically in Figures 7 and 8.  Two of
   the summary-LSAs originated by Router RT4 follow.  The actual IP
   addresses for the networks and routers in question have been assigned
   in Figure 15.

     ; Summary-LSA for Network N1,
     ; originated by Router RT4 into the backbone

     LS age = 0                  ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)           ;
     LS type = 3                 ;Type 3 summary-LSA
     Link State ID = 192.1.2.0   ;N1's IP network number
     Advertising Router = 192.1.1.4       ;RT4's ID
     metric = 4

     ; Summary-LSA for AS boundary router RT7
     ; originated by Router RT4 into Area 1

     LS age = 0                  ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)           ;
     LS type = 4                 ;Type 4 summary-LSA
     Link State ID = Router RT7's ID
     Advertising Router = 192.1.1.4       ;RT4's ID
     metric = 14

12.4.4.  AS-external-LSAs

   AS-external-LSAs describe routes to destinations external to the
   Autonomous System.  Most AS-external-LSAs describe routes to specific
   external destinations; in these cases the LSA's Link State ID is set
   to the destination network's IP address (if necessary, the Link State
   ID can also have one or more of the network's "host" bits set; see
   Appendix E for details).  However, a default route for the Autonomous
   System can be described in an AS-external-LSA by setting the LSA's
   Link State ID to DefaultDestination (0.0.0.0).  AS-external-LSAs are
   originated by AS boundary routers.  An AS boundary router originates
   a single AS-external-LSA for each external route that it has learned,
   either through another routing protocol (such as BGP), or through
   configuration information.





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   AS-external-LSAs are the only type of LSAs that are flooded
   throughout the entire Autonomous System; all other types of LSAs are
   specific to a single area.  However, AS-external-LSAs are not flooded
   into/throughout stub areas (see Section 3.6).  This enables a
   reduction in link state database size for routers internal to stub
   areas.

   The metric that is advertised for an external route can be one of two
   types.  Type 1 metrics are comparable to the link state metric.  Type
   2 metrics are assumed to be larger than the cost of any intra-AS
   path.

   If a router advertises an AS-external-LSA for a destination which
   then becomes unreachable, the router must then flush the LSA from the
   routing domain by setting its age to MaxAge and reflooding (see
   Section 14.1).

12.4.4.1.  Examples of AS-external-LSAs

   Consider once again the AS pictured in Figure 6.  There are two AS
   boundary routers: RT5 and RT7.  Router RT5 originates three AS-
   external-LSAs, for networks N12-N14.  Router RT7 originates two AS-
   external-LSAs, for networks N12 and N15.  Assume that RT7 has learned
   its route to N12 via BGP, and that it wishes to advertise a Type 2
   metric to the AS.  RT7 would then originate the following LSA for
   N12:

     ; AS-external-LSA for Network N12,
     ; originated by Router RT7

     LS age = 0                  ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)           ;
     LS type = 5                 ;AS-external-LSA
     Link State ID = N12's IP network number
     Advertising Router = Router RT7's ID
     bit E = 1                   ;Type 2 metric
     metric = 2
     Forwarding address = 0.0.0.0

   In the above example, the forwarding address field has been set to
   0.0.0.0, indicating that packets for the external destination should
   be forwarded to the advertising OSPF router (RT7). This is not always
   desirable.  Consider the example pictured in Figure 16.  There are
   three OSPF routers (RTA, RTB and RTC) connected to a common network.
   Only one of these routers, RTA, is exchanging BGP information with
   the non-OSPF router RTX.  RTA must then originate AS- external-LSAs
   for those destinations it has learned from RTX.  By using the AS-
   external-LSA's forwarding address field, RTA can specify that packets



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   for these destinations be forwarded directly to RTX.  Without this
   feature, Routers RTB and RTC would take an extra hop to get to these
   destinations.

   Note that when the forwarding address field is non-zero, it should
   point to a router belonging to another Autonomous System.

   A forwarding address can also be specified for the default route. For
   example, in figure 16 RTA may want to specify that all externally-
   destined packets should by default be forwarded to its BGP peer RTX.
   The resulting AS-external-LSA is pictured below.  Note that the Link
   State ID is set to DefaultDestination.

     ; Default route, originated by Router RTA
     ; Packets forwarded through RTX

     LS age = 0                  ;always true on origination
     Options = (E-bit)           ;
     LS type = 5                 ;AS-external-LSA
     Link State ID = DefaultDestination  ; default route
     Advertising Router = Router RTA's ID
     bit E = 1                   ;Type 2 metric
     metric = 1
     Forwarding address = RTX's IP address

   In figure 16, suppose instead that both RTA and RTB exchange BGP
   information with RTX.  In this case, RTA and RTB would originate the
   same set of AS-external-LSAs.  These LSAs, if they specify the same
   metric, would be functionally equivalent since they would specify the
   same destination and forwarding address (RTX). This leads to a clear
   duplication of effort.  If only one of RTA or RTB originated the set
   of AS-external-LSAs, the routing would remain the same, and the size
   of the link state database would decrease.  However, it must be
   unambiguously defined as to which router originates the LSAs
   (otherwise neither may, or the identity of the originator may
   oscillate). The following rule is thereby established: if two
   routers, both reachable from one another, originate functionally
   equivalent AS-external-LSAs (i.e., same destination, cost and non-
   zero forwarding address), then the LSA originated by the router
   having the highest OSPF Router ID is used.  The router having the
   lower OSPF Router ID can then flush its LSA.  Flushing an LSA is
   discussed in Section 14.1.

13.  The Flooding Procedure

   Link State Update packets provide the mechanism for flooding LSAs.  A
   Link State Update packet may contain several distinct LSAs, and
   floods each LSA one hop further from its point of origination.  To



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   make the flooding procedure reliable, each LSA must be acknowledged
   separately.  Acknowledgments are transmitted in Link State
   Acknowledgment packets.  Many separate acknowledgments can also be
   grouped together into a single packet.

   The flooding procedure starts when a Link State Update packet has
   been received.  Many consistency checks have been made on the
   received packet before being handed to the flooding procedure (see
   Section 8.2).  In particular, the Link State Update packet has been
   associated with a particular neighbor, and a particular area.  If the
   neighbor is in a lesser state than Exchange, the packet should be
   dropped without further processing.

                                +
                                |
                      +---+.....|.BGP
                      |RTA|-----|.....+---+
                      +---+     |-----|RTX|
                                |     +---+
                      +---+     |
                      |RTB|-----|
                      +---+     |
                                |
                      +---+     |
                      |RTC|-----|
                      +---+     |
                                |
                                +

                 Figure 16: Forwarding address example

   All types of LSAs, other than AS-external-LSAs, are associated with a
   specific area.  However, LSAs do not contain an area field.  An LSA's
   area must be deduced from the Link State Update packet header.

   For each LSA contained in a Link State Update packet, the following
   steps are taken:


    (1) Validate the LSA's LS checksum.  If the checksum turns out to be
        invalid, discard the LSA and get the next one from the Link
        State Update packet.

    (2) Examine the LSA's LS type.  If the LS type is unknown, discard
        the LSA and get the next one from the Link State Update Packet.
        This specification defines LS types 1-5 (see Section 4.3).

    (3) Else if this is an AS-external-LSA (LS type = 5), and the area



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        has been configured as a stub area, discard the LSA and get the
        next one from the Link State Update Packet.  AS-external-LSAs
        are not flooded into/throughout stub areas (see Section 3.6).

    (4) Else if the LSA's LS age is equal to MaxAge, and there is
        currently no instance of the LSA in the router's link state
        database, then take the following actions:

        (a) Acknowledge the receipt of the LSA by sending a Link State
            Acknowledgment packet back to the sending neighbor (see
            Section 13.5).

        (b) Purge all outstanding requests for equal or previous
            instances of the LSA from the sending neighbor's Link State
            Request list (see Section 10).

        (c) If the sending neighbor is in state Exchange or in state
            Loading, then install the MaxAge LSA in the link state
            database.  Otherwise, simply discard the LSA.  In either
            case, examine the next LSA (if any) listed in the Link State
            Update packet.

    (5) Otherwise, find the instance of this LSA that is currently
        contained in the router's link state database.  If there is no
        database copy, or the received LSA is more recent than the
        database copy (see Section 13.1 below for the determination of
        which LSA is more recent) the following steps must be performed:

        (a) If there is already a database copy, and if the database
            copy was installed less than MinLSArrival seconds ago,
            discard the new LSA (without acknowledging it) and examine
            the next LSA (if any) listed in the Link State Update
            packet.

        (b) Otherwise immediately flood the new LSA out some subset of
            the router's interfaces (see Section 13.3).  In some cases
            (e.g., the state of the receiving interface is DR and the
            LSA was received from a router other than the Backup DR) the
            LSA will be flooded back out the receiving interface.  This
            occurrence should be noted for later use by the
            acknowledgment process (Section 13.5).

        (c) Remove the current database copy from all neighbors' Link
            state retransmission lists.

        (d) Install the new LSA in the link state database (replacing
            the current database copy).  This may cause the routing
            table calculation to be scheduled.  In addition, timestamp



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            the new LSA with the current time (i.e., the time it was
            received).  The flooding procedure cannot overwrite the
            newly installed LSA until MinLSArrival seconds have elapsed.
            The LSA installation process is discussed further in Section
            13.2.

        (e) Possibly acknowledge the receipt of the LSA by sending a
            Link State Acknowledgment packet back out the receiving
            interface.  This is explained below in Section 13.5.

        (f) If this new LSA indicates that it was originated by the
            receiving router itself (i.e., is considered a self-
            originated LSA), the router must take special action, either
            updating the LSA or in some cases flushing it from the
            routing domain. For a description of how self-originated
            LSAs are detected and subsequently handled, see Section
            13.4.

    (6) Else, if there is an instance of the LSA on the sending
        neighbor's Link state request list, an error has occurred in the
        Database Exchange process.  In this case, restart the Database
        Exchange process by generating the neighbor event BadLSReq for
        the sending neighbor and stop processing the Link State Update
        packet.

    (7) Else, if the received LSA is the same instance as the database
        copy (i.e., neither one is more recent) the following two steps
        should be performed:

        (a) If the LSA is listed in the Link state retransmission list
            for the receiving adjacency, the router itself is expecting
            an acknowledgment for this LSA.  The router should treat the
            received LSA as an acknowledgment by removing the LSA from
            the Link state retransmission list.  This is termed an
            "implied acknowledgment".  Its occurrence should be noted
            for later use by the acknowledgment process (Section 13.5).

        (b) Possibly acknowledge the receipt of the LSA by sending a
            Link State Acknowledgment packet back out the receiving
            interface.  This is explained below in Section 13.5.

    (8) Else, the database copy is more recent.  If the database copy
        has LS age equal to MaxAge and LS sequence number equal to
        MaxSequenceNumber, simply discard the received LSA without
        acknowledging it. (In this case, the LSA's LS sequence number is
        wrapping, and the MaxSequenceNumber LSA must be completely
        flushed before any new LSA instance can be introduced).
        Otherwise, send the database copy back to the sending neighbor,



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        encapsulated within a Link State Update Packet. The Link State
        Update Packet should be unicast to the neighbor. In so doing, do
        not put the database copy of the LSA on the neighbor's link
        state retransmission list, and do not acknowledge the received
        (less recent) LSA instance.

13.1.  Determining which LSA is newer

   When a router encounters two instances of an LSA, it must determine
   which is more recent.  This occurred above when comparing a received
   LSA to its database copy. This comparison must also be done during
   the Database Exchange procedure which occurs during adjacency bring-
   up.

   An LSA is identified by its LS type, Link State ID and Advertising
   Router.  For two instances of the same LSA, the LS sequence number,
   LS age, and LS checksum fields are used to determine which instance
   is more recent:

   o   The LSA having the newer LS sequence number is more recent.
       See Section 12.1.6 for an explanation of the LS sequence number
       space.  If both instances have the same LS sequence number, then:

   o   If the two instances have different LS checksums, then the
       instance having the larger LS checksum (when considered as a 16-
       bit unsigned integer) is considered more recent.

   o   Else, if only one of the instances has its LS age field set
       to MaxAge, the instance of age MaxAge is considered to be more
       recent.

   o   Else, if the LS age fields of the two instances differ by
       more than MaxAgeDiff, the instance having the smaller (younger)
       LS age is considered to be more recent.

   o   Else, the two instances are considered to be identical.















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13.2.  Installing LSAs in the database

   Installing a new LSA in the database, either as the result of
   flooding or a newly self-originated LSA, may cause the OSPF routing
   table structure to be recalculated.  The contents of the new LSA
   should be compared to the old instance, if present.  If there is no
   difference, there is no need to recalculate the routing table. When
   comparing an LSA to its previous instance, the following are all
   considered to be differences in contents:

   o   The LSA's Options field has changed.

   o   One of the LSA instances has LS age set to MaxAge, and
       the other does not.

   o   The length field in the LSA header has changed.

   o   The body of the LSA (i.e., anything outside the 20-byte
       LSA header) has changed. Note that this excludes changes in LS
       Sequence Number and LS Checksum.

   If the contents are different, the following pieces of the routing
   table must be recalculated, depending on the new LSA's LS type field:

   Router-LSAs and network-LSAs
      The entire routing table must be recalculated, starting with the
      shortest path calculations for each area (not just the area whose
      link-state database has changed).  The reason that the shortest
      path calculation cannot be restricted to the single changed area
      has to do with the fact that AS boundary routers may belong to
      multiple areas.  A change in the area currently providing the best
      route may force the router to use an intra-area route provided by
      a different area.[19]

   Summary-LSAs
      The best route to the destination described by the summary-LSA
      must be recalculated (see Section 16.5).  If this destination is
      an AS boundary router, it may also be necessary to re-examine all
      the AS-external-LSAs.

   AS-external-LSAs
      The best route to the destination described by the AS-external-LSA
      must be recalculated (see Section 16.6).

      Also, any old instance of the LSA must be removed from the
      database when the new LSA is installed.  This old instance must
      also be removed from all neighbors' Link state retransmission
      lists (see Section 10).



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13.3.  Next step in the flooding procedure

   When a new (and more recent) LSA has been received, it must be
   flooded out some set of the router's interfaces.  This section
   describes the second part of flooding procedure (the first part being
   the processing that occurred in Section 13), namely, selecting the
   outgoing interfaces and adding the LSA to the appropriate neighbors'
   Link state retransmission lists.  Also included in this part of the
   flooding procedure is the maintenance of the neighbors' Link state
   request lists.

   This section is equally applicable to the flooding of an LSA that the
   router itself has just originated (see Section 12.4).

   For these LSAs, this section provides the entirety of the flooding
   procedure (i.e., the processing of Section 13 is not performed,
   since, for example, the LSA has not been received from a neighbor and
   therefore does not need to be acknowledged).

   Depending upon the LSA's LS type, the LSA can be flooded out only
   certain interfaces.  These interfaces, defined by the following, are
   called the eligible interfaces:

   AS-external-LSAs (LS Type = 5)
      AS-external-LSAs are flooded throughout the entire AS, with the
      exception of stub areas (see Section 3.6).  The eligible
      interfaces are all the router's interfaces, excluding virtual
      links and those interfaces attaching to stub areas.

   All other LS types
      All other types are specific to a single area (Area A).  The
      eligible interfaces are all those interfaces attaching to the Area
      A.  If Area A is the backbone, this includes all the virtual
      links.

   Link state databases must remain synchronized over all adjacencies
   associated with the above eligible interfaces.  This is accomplished
   by executing the following steps on each eligible interface.  It
   should be noted that this procedure may decide not to flood an LSA
   out a particular interface, if there is a high probability that the
   attached neighbors have already received the LSA.  However, in these
   cases the flooding procedure must be absolutely sure that the
   neighbors eventually do receive the LSA, so the LSA is still added to
   each adjacency's Link state retransmission list.  For each eligible
   interface:






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   (1) Each of the neighbors attached to this interface are
       examined, to determine whether they must receive the new
       LSA.  The following steps are executed for each neighbor:

       (a) If the neighbor is in a lesser state than Exchange, it
           does not participate in flooding, and the next neighbor
           should be examined.

       (b) Else, if the adjacency is not yet full (neighbor state
           is Exchange or Loading), examine the Link state request
           list associated with this adjacency.  If there is an
           instance of the new LSA on the list, it indicates that
           the neighboring router has an instance of the LSA
           already.  Compare the new LSA to the neighbor's copy:

           o   If the new LSA is less recent, then examine the next
               neighbor.

           o   If the two copies are the same instance, then delete
               the LSA from the Link state request list, and
               examine the next neighbor.[20]

           o   Else, the new LSA is more recent.  Delete the LSA
               from the Link state request list.

       (c) If the new LSA was received from this neighbor, examine
           the next neighbor.

       (d) At this point we are not positive that the neighbor has
           an up-to-date instance of this new LSA.  Add the new LSA
           to the Link state retransmission list for the adjacency.
           This ensures that the flooding procedure is reliable;
           the LSA will be retransmitted at intervals until an
           acknowledgment is seen from the neighbor.

   (2) The router must now decide whether to flood the new LSA out
       this interface.  If in the previous step, the LSA was NOT
       added to any of the Link state retransmission lists, there
       is no need to flood the LSA out the interface and the next
       interface should be examined.

   (3) If the new LSA was received on this interface, and it was
       received from either the Designated Router or the Backup
       Designated Router, chances are that all the neighbors have
       received the LSA already.  Therefore, examine the next
       interface.





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   (4) If the new LSA was received on this interface, and the
       interface state is Backup (i.e., the router itself is the
       Backup Designated Router), examine the next interface.  The
       Designated Router will do the flooding on this interface.
       However, if the Designated Router fails the router (i.e.,
       the Backup Designated Router) will end up retransmitting the
       updates.

   (5) If this step is reached, the LSA must be flooded out the
       interface.  Send a Link State Update packet (including the
       new LSA as contents) out the interface.  The LSA's LS age
       must be incremented by InfTransDelay (which must be > 0)
       when it is copied into the outgoing Link State Update packet
       (until the LS age field reaches the maximum value of
       MaxAge).

       On broadcast networks, the Link State Update packets are
       multicast.  The destination IP address specified for the
       Link State Update Packet depends on the state of the
       interface.  If the interface state is DR or Backup, the
       address AllSPFRouters should be used.  Otherwise, the
       address AllDRouters should be used.

       On non-broadcast networks, separate Link State Update
       packets must be sent, as unicasts, to each adjacent neighbor
       (i.e., those in state Exchange or greater).  The destination
       IP addresses for these packets are the neighbors' IP
       addresses.

13.4.  Receiving self-originated LSAs

   It is a common occurrence for a router to receive self-originated
   LSAs via the flooding procedure. A self-originated LSA is detected
   when either 1) the LSA's Advertising Router is equal to the router's
   own Router ID or 2) the LSA is a network-LSA and its Link State ID is
   equal to one of the router's own IP interface addresses.

   However, if the received self-originated LSA is newer than the last
   instance that the router actually originated, the router must take
   special action.  The reception of such an LSA indicates that there
   are LSAs in the routing domain that were originated by the router
   before the last time it was restarted.  In most cases, the router
   must then advance the LSA's LS sequence number one past the received
   LS sequence number, and originate a new instance of the LSA.

   It may be the case the router no longer wishes to originate the
   received LSA. Possible examples include: 1) the LSA is a summary-LSA
   or AS-external-LSA and the router no longer has an (advertisable)



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   route to the destination, 2) the LSA is a network-LSA but the router
   is no longer Designated Router for the network or 3) the LSA is a
   network-LSA whose Link State ID is one of the router's own IP
   interface addresses but whose Advertising Router is not equal to the
   router's own Router ID (this latter case should be rare, and it
   indicates that the router's Router ID has changed since originating
   the LSA).  In all these cases, instead of updating the LSA, the LSA
   should be flushed from the routing domain by incrementing the
   received LSA's LS age to MaxAge and reflooding (see Section 14.1).

13.5.  Sending Link State Acknowledgment packets

   Each newly received LSA must be acknowledged.  This is usually done
   by sending Link State Acknowledgment packets.  However,
   acknowledgments can also be accomplished implicitly by sending Link
   State Update packets (see step 7a of Section 13).

   Many acknowledgments may be grouped together into a single Link State
   Acknowledgment packet.  Such a packet is sent back out the interface
   which received the LSAs.  The packet can be sent in one of two ways:
   delayed and sent on an interval timer, or sent directly (as a
   unicast) to a particular neighbor.  The particular acknowledgment
   strategy used depends on the circumstances surrounding the receipt of
   the LSA.

   Sending delayed acknowledgments accomplishes several things: 1) it
   facilitates the packaging of multiple acknowledgments in a single
   Link State Acknowledgment packet, 2) it enables a single Link State
   Acknowledgment packet to indicate acknowledgments to several
   neighbors at once (through multicasting) and 3) it randomizes the
   Link State Acknowledgment packets sent by the various routers
   attached to a common network.  The fixed interval between a router's
   delayed transmissions must be short (less than RxmtInterval) or
   needless retransmissions will ensue.

   Direct acknowledgments are sent to a particular neighbor in response
   to the receipt of duplicate LSAs.  These acknowledgments are sent as
   unicasts, and are sent immediately when the duplicate is received.

   The precise procedure for sending Link State Acknowledgment packets
   is described in Table 19.  The circumstances surrounding the receipt
   of the LSA are listed in the left column.  The acknowledgment action
   then taken is listed in one of the two right columns.  This action
   depends on the state of the concerned interface; interfaces in state
   Backup behave differently from interfaces in all other states.
   Delayed acknowledgments must be delivered to all adjacent routers
   associated with the interface.  On broadcast networks, this is
   accomplished by sending the delayed Link State Acknowledgment packets



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   as multicasts.  The Destination IP address used depends on the state
   of the interface.  If the interface state is DR or Backup, the
   destination AllSPFRouters is used.  In all other states, the
   destination AllDRouters is used.  On non-broadcast networks, delayed
   Link State Acknowledgment packets must be unicast separately over
   each adjacency (i.e., neighbor whose state is >= Exchange).

                                    Action taken in state
    Circumstances          Backup                All other states
    _______________________________________________________________
    LSA  has               No  acknowledgment    No  acknowledgment
    been  flooded back     sent.                 sent.
    out receiving  in-
    terface  (see Sec-
    tion 13, step 5b).
    _______________________________________________________________
    LSA   is               Delayed acknowledg-   Delayed       ack-
    more  recent  than     ment sent if adver-   nowledgment sent.
    database copy, but     tisement   received
    was   not  flooded     from    Designated
    back out receiving     Router,  otherwise
    interface              do nothing
    _______________________________________________________________
    LSA is a               Delayed acknowledg-   No  acknowledgment
    duplicate, and was     ment sent if adver-   sent.
    treated as an  im-     tisement   received
    plied  acknowledg-     from    Designated
    ment (see  Section     Router,  otherwise
    13, step 7a).          do nothing
    _______________________________________________________________
    LSA is a               Direct acknowledg-    Direct acknowledg-
    duplicate, and was     ment sent.            ment sent.
    not treated as  an
    implied       ack-
    nowledgment.
    _______________________________________________________________
    LSA's LS               Direct acknowledg-    Direct acknowledg-
    age is equal to        ment sent.            ment sent.
    MaxAge, and there is
    no current instance
    of the LSA
    in the link state
    database (see
    Section 13, step 4).


             Table 19: Sending link state acknowledgments.




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   The reasoning behind sending the above packets as multicasts is best
   explained by an example.  Consider the network configuration depicted
   in Figure 15.  Suppose RT4 has been elected as Designated Router, and
   RT3 as Backup Designated Router for the network N3.  When Router RT4
   floods a new LSA to Network N3, it is received by routers RT1, RT2,
   and RT3.  These routers will not flood the LSA back onto net N3, but
   they still must ensure that their link-state databases remain
   synchronized with their adjacent neighbors.  So RT1, RT2, and RT4 are
   waiting to see an acknowledgment from RT3.  Likewise, RT4 and RT3 are
   both waiting to see acknowledgments from RT1 and RT2.  This is best
   achieved by sending the acknowledgments as multicasts.

   The reason that the acknowledgment logic for Backup DRs is slightly
   different is because they perform differently during the flooding of
   LSAs (see Section 13.3, step 4).


13.6.  Retransmitting LSAs

   LSAs flooded out an adjacency are placed on the adjacency's Link
   state retransmission list.  In order to ensure that flooding is
   reliable, these LSAs are retransmitted until they are acknowledged.
   The length of time between retransmissions is a configurable per-
   interface value, RxmtInterval.  If this is set too low for an
   interface, needless retransmissions will ensue.  If the value is set
   too high, the speed of the flooding, in the face of lost packets, may
   be affected.

   Several retransmitted LSAs may fit into a single Link State Update
   packet.  When LSAs are to be retransmitted, only the number fitting
   in a single Link State Update packet should be sent.  Another packet
   of retransmissions can be sent whenever some of the LSAs are
   acknowledged, or on the next firing of the retransmission timer.

   Link State Update Packets carrying retransmissions are always sent as
   unicasts (directly to the physical address of the neighbor).  They
   are never sent as multicasts.  Each LSA's LS age must be incremented
   by InfTransDelay (which must be > 0) when it is copied into the
   outgoing Link State Update packet (until the LS age field reaches the
   maximum value of MaxAge).

   If an adjacent router goes down, retransmissions may occur until the
   adjacency is destroyed by OSPF's Hello Protocol.  When the adjacency
   is destroyed, the Link state retransmission list is cleared.







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13.7.  Receiving link state acknowledgments

   Many consistency checks have been made on a received Link State
   Acknowledgment packet before it is handed to the flooding procedure.
   In particular, it has been associated with a particular neighbor.  If
   this neighbor is in a lesser state than Exchange, the Link State
   Acknowledgment packet is discarded.

   Otherwise, for each acknowledgment in the Link State Acknowledgment
   packet, the following steps are performed:


   o   Does the LSA acknowledged have an instance on the Link state
       retransmission list for the neighbor?  If not, examine the
       next acknowledgment.  Otherwise:

   o   If the acknowledgment is for the same instance that is
       contained on the list, remove the item from the list and
       examine the next acknowledgment.  Otherwise:

      o   Log the questionable acknowledgment, and examine the next
          one.

14.  Aging The Link State Database

   Each LSA has an LS age field.  The LS age is expressed in seconds.
   An LSA's LS age field is incremented while it is contained in a
   router's database.  Also, when copied into a Link State Update Packet
   for flooding out a particular interface, the LSA's LS age is
   incremented by InfTransDelay.

   An LSA's LS age is never incremented past the value MaxAge.  LSAs
   having age MaxAge are not used in the routing table calculation.  As
   a router ages its link state database, an LSA's LS age may reach
   MaxAge.[21]  At this time, the router must attempt to flush the LSA
   from the routing domain.  This is done simply by reflooding the
   MaxAge LSA just as if it was a newly originated LSA (see Section
   13.3).

   When creating a Database summary list for a newly forming adjacency,
   any MaxAge LSAs present in the link state database are added to the
   neighbor's Link state retransmission list instead of the neighbor's
   Database summary list.  See Section 10.3 for more details.

   A MaxAge LSA must be removed immediately from the router's link state
   database as soon as both a) it is no longer contained on any neighbor
   Link state retransmission lists and b) none of the router's neighbors
   are in states Exchange or Loading.



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   When, in the process of aging the link state database, an LSA's LS
   age hits a multiple of CheckAge, its LS checksum should be verified.
   If the LS checksum is incorrect, a program or memory error has been
   detected, and at the very least the router itself should be
   restarted.

14.1.  Premature aging of LSAs

   An LSA can be flushed from the routing domain by setting its LS age
   to MaxAge and reflooding the LSA.  This procedure follows the same
   course as flushing an LSA whose LS age has naturally reached the
   value MaxAge (see Section 14).  In particular, the MaxAge LSA is
   removed from the router's link state database as soon as a) it is no
   longer contained on any neighbor Link state retransmission lists and
   b) none of the router's neighbors are in states Exchange or Loading.
   We call the setting of an LSA's LS age to MaxAge "premature aging".

   Premature aging is used when it is time for a self-originated LSA's
   sequence number field to wrap.  At this point, the current LSA
   instance (having LS sequence number MaxSequenceNumber) must be
   prematurely aged and flushed from the routing domain before a new
   instance with sequence number equal to InitialSequenceNumber can be
   originated.  See Section 12.1.6 for more information.

   Premature aging can also be used when, for example, one of the
   router's previously advertised external routes is no longer
   reachable.  In this circumstance, the router can flush its AS-
   external-LSA from the routing domain via premature aging. This
   procedure is preferable to the alternative, which is to originate a
   new LSA for the destination specifying a metric of LSInfinity.
   Premature aging is also be used when unexpectedly receiving self-
   originated LSAs during the flooding procedure (see Section 13.4).

   A router may only prematurely age its own self-originated LSAs.  The
   router may not prematurely age LSAs that have been originated by
   other routers. An LSA is considered self- originated when either 1)
   the LSA's Advertising Router is equal to the router's own Router ID
   or 2) the LSA is a network-LSA and its Link State ID is equal to one
   of the router's own IP interface addresses.

15.  Virtual Links

   The single backbone area (Area ID = 0.0.0.0) cannot be disconnected,
   or some areas of the Autonomous System will become unreachable.  To
   establish/maintain connectivity of the backbone, virtual links can be
   configured through non-backbone areas.  Virtual links serve to
   connect physically separate components of the backbone.  The two
   endpoints of a virtual link are area border routers.  The virtual



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   link must be configured in both routers.  The configuration
   information in each router consists of the other virtual endpoint
   (the other area border router), and the non-backbone area the two
   routers have in common (called the Transit area).  Virtual links
   cannot be configured through stub areas (see Section 3.6).

   The virtual link is treated as if it were an unnumbered point-to-
   point network belonging to the backbone and joining the two area
   border routers.  An attempt is made to establish an adjacency over
   the virtual link.  When this adjacency is established, the virtual
   link will be included in backbone router-LSAs, and OSPF packets
   pertaining to the backbone area will flow over the adjacency.  Such
   an adjacency has been referred to in this document as a "virtual
   adjacency".

   In each endpoint router, the cost and viability of the virtual link
   is discovered by examining the routing table entry for the other
   endpoint router.  (The entry's associated area must be the configured
   Transit area).  This is called the virtual link's corresponding
   routing table entry. The InterfaceUp event occurs for a virtual link
   when its corresponding routing table entry becomes reachable.
   Conversely, the InterfaceDown event occurs when its routing table
   entry becomes unreachable.  In other words, the virtual link's
   viability is determined by the existence of an intra-area path,
   through the Transit area, between the two endpoints. Note that a
   virtual link whose underlying path has cost greater than hexadecimal
   0xffff (the maximum size of an interface cost in a router-LSA) should
   be considered inoperational (i.e., treated the same as if the path
   did not exist).

   The other details concerning virtual links are as follows:

   o AS-external-LSAs are NEVER flooded over virtual adjacencies.  This
   would be duplication of effort, since the same AS-external-LSAs are
   already flooded throughout the virtual link's Transit area.  For this
   same reason, AS-external-LSAs are not summarized over virtual
   adjacencies during the Database Exchange process.

   o The cost of a virtual link is NOT configured.  It is defined to be
   the cost of the intra-area path between the two defining area border
   routers.  This cost appears in the virtual link's corresponding
   routing table entry.  When the cost of a virtual link changes, a new
   router-LSA should be originated for the backbone area.

   o Just as the virtual link's cost and viability are determined by the
   routing table build process (through construction of the routing
   table entry for the other endpoint), so are the IP interface address
   for the virtual interface and the virtual neighbor's IP address.



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   These are used when sending OSPF protocol packets over the virtual
   link. Note that when one (or both) of the virtual link endpoints
   connect to the Transit area via an unnumbered point-to-point link, it
   may be impossible to calculate either the virtual interface's IP
   address and/or the virtual neighbor's IP address, thereby causing the
   virtual link to fail.

   o In each endpoint's router-LSA for the backbone, the virtual link is
   represented as a Type 4 link whose Link ID is set to the virtual
   neighbor's OSPF Router ID and whose Link Data is set to the virtual
   interface's IP address.  See Section 12.4.1 for more information.

   o A non-backbone area can carry transit data traffic (i.e., is
   considered a "transit area") if and only if it serves as the Transit
   area for one or more fully adjacent virtual links (see
   TransitCapability in Sections 6 and 16.1). Such an area requires
   special treatment when summarizing backbone networks into it (see
   Section 12.4.3), and during the routing calculation (see Section
   16.3).

   o The time between link state retransmissions, RxmtInterval, is
   configured for a virtual link. This should be well over the expected
   round-trip delay between the two routers.  This may be hard to
   estimate for a virtual link; it is better to err on the side of
   making it too large.

16.  Calculation of the routing table

   This section details the OSPF routing table calculation.  Using its
   attached areas' link state databases as input, a router runs the
   following algorithm, building its routing table step by step.  At
   each step, the router must access individual pieces of the link state
   databases (e.g., a router-LSA originated by a certain router).  This
   access is performed by the lookup function discussed in Section 12.2.
   The lookup process may return an LSA whose LS age is equal to MaxAge.
   Such an LSA should not be used in the routing table calculation, and
   is treated just as if the lookup process had failed.

   The OSPF routing table's organization is explained in Section 11.
   Two examples of the routing table build process are presented in
   Sections 11.2 and 11.3.  This process can be broken into the
   following steps:

   (1) The present routing table is invalidated.  The routing table is
        built again from scratch.  The old routing table is saved so
        that changes in routing table entries can be identified.





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   (2) The intra-area routes are calculated by building the shortest-
       path tree for each attached area.  In particular, all routing
       table entries whose Destination Type is "area border router" are
       calculated in this step.  This step is described in two parts.
       At first the tree is constructed by only considering those links
       between routers and transit networks.  Then the stub networks
       are incorporated into the tree.  During the area's shortest-path
       tree calculation, the area's TransitCapability is also
       calculated for later use in Step 4.

   (3) The inter-area routes are calculated, through examination of
       summary-LSAs.  If the router is attached to multiple areas
       (i.e., it is an area border router), only backbone summary-LSAs
       are examined.

   (4) In area border routers connecting to one or more transit areas
       (i.e, non-backbone areas whose TransitCapability is found to be
       TRUE), the transit areas' summary-LSAs are examined to see
       whether better paths exist using the transit areas than were
       found in Steps 2-3 above.

   (5) Routes to external destinations are calculated, through
       examination of AS-external-LSAs.  The locations of the AS
       boundary routers (which originate the AS-external-LSAs) have
       been determined in steps 2-4.

   Steps 2-5 are explained in further detail below.

   Changes made to routing table entries as a result of these
   calculations can cause the OSPF protocol to take further actions.
   For example, a change to an intra-area route will cause an area
   border router to originate new summary-LSAs (see Section 12.4).  See

   Section 16.7 for a complete list of the OSPF protocol actions
   resulting from routing table changes.

16.1.  Calculating the shortest-path tree for an area

   This calculation yields the set of intra-area routes associated with
   an area (called hereafter Area A).  A router calculates the
   shortest-path tree using itself as the root.[22] The formation of the
   shortest path tree is done here in two stages.  In the first stage,
   only links between routers and transit networks are considered.
   Using the Dijkstra algorithm, a tree is formed from this subset of
   the link state database.  In the second stage, leaves are added to
   the tree by considering the links to stub networks.





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   The procedure will be explained using the graph terminology that was
   introduced in Section 2.  The area's link state database is
   represented as a directed graph.  The graph's vertices are routers,
   transit networks and stub networks.  The first stage of the procedure
   concerns only the transit vertices (routers and transit networks) and
   their connecting links.  Throughout the shortest path calculation,
   the following data is also associated with each transit vertex:


   Vertex (node) ID
       A 32-bit number uniquely identifying the vertex.  For router
       vertices this is the router's OSPF Router ID.  For network
       vertices, this is the IP address of the network's Designated
       Router.

   An LSA
       Each transit vertex has an associated LSA.  For router
       vertices, this is a router-LSA.  For transit networks, this
       is a network-LSA (which is actually originated by the
       network's Designated Router).  In any case, the LSA's Link
       State ID is always equal to the above Vertex ID.

   List of next hops
       The list of next hops for the current set of shortest paths
       from the root to this vertex.  There can be multiple
       shortest paths due to the equal-cost multipath capability.
       Each next hop indicates the outgoing router interface to use
       when forwarding traffic to the destination.  On broadcast,
       Point-to-MultiPoint and NBMA networks, the next hop also
       includes the IP address of the next router (if any) in the
       path towards the destination.

   Distance from root
       The link state cost of the current set of shortest paths
       from the root to the vertex.  The link state cost of a path
       is calculated as the sum of the costs of the path's
       constituent links (as advertised in router-LSAs and
       network-LSAs).  One path is said to be "shorter" than
       another if it has a smaller link state cost.


   The first stage of the procedure (i.e., the Dijkstra algorithm) can
   now be summarized as follows. At each iteration of the algorithm,
   there is a list of candidate vertices.  Paths from the root to these
   vertices have been found, but not necessarily the shortest ones.
   However, the paths to the candidate vertex that is closest to the
   root are guaranteed to be shortest; this vertex is added to the
   shortest-path tree, removed from the candidate list, and its adjacent



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   vertices are examined for possible addition to/modification of the
   candidate list.  The algorithm then iterates again.  It terminates
   when the candidate list becomes empty.

   The following steps describe the algorithm in detail.  Remember that
   we are computing the shortest path tree for Area A.  All references
   to link state database lookup below are from Area A's database.

   (1) Initialize the algorithm's data structures.  Clear the list
       of candidate vertices.  Initialize the shortest-path tree to
       only the root (which is the router doing the calculation).
       Set Area A's TransitCapability to FALSE.

   (2) Call the vertex just added to the tree vertex V.  Examine
       the LSA associated with vertex V.  This is a lookup in the
       Area A's link state database based on the Vertex ID.  If
       this is a router-LSA, and bit V of the router-LSA (see
       Section A.4.2) is set, set Area A's TransitCapability to
       TRUE.  In any case, each link described by the LSA gives the
       cost to an adjacent vertex.  For each described link, (say
       it joins vertex V to vertex W):

       (a) If this is a link to a stub network, examine the next
           link in V's LSA.  Links to stub networks will be
           considered in the second stage of the shortest path
           calculation.

       (b) Otherwise, W is a transit vertex (router or transit
           network).  Look up the vertex W's LSA (router-LSA or
           network-LSA) in Area A's link state database.  If the
           LSA does not exist, or its LS age is equal to MaxAge, or
           it does not have a link back to vertex V, examine the
           next link in V's LSA.[23]

       (c) If vertex W is already on the shortest-path tree,
           examine the next link in the LSA.

       (d) Calculate the link state cost D of the resulting path
           from the root to vertex W.  D is equal to the sum of the
           link state cost of the (already calculated) shortest
           path to vertex V and the advertised cost of the link
           between vertices V and W.  If D is:

           o   Greater than the value that already appears for
               vertex W on the candidate list, then examine the
               next link.





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           o   Equal to the value that appears for vertex W on the
               candidate list, calculate the set of next hops that
               result from using the advertised link.  Input to
               this calculation is the destination (W), and its
               parent (V).  This calculation is shown in Section
               16.1.1.  This set of hops should be added to the
               next hop values that appear for W on the candidate
               list.

           o   Less than the value that appears for vertex W on the
               candidate list, or if W does not yet appear on the
               candidate list, then set the entry for W on the
               candidate list to indicate a distance of D from the
               root.  Also calculate the list of next hops that
               result from using the advertised link, setting the
               next hop values for W accordingly.  The next hop
               calculation is described in Section 16.1.1; it takes
               as input the destination (W) and its parent (V).

   (3) If at this step the candidate list is empty, the shortest-
       path tree (of transit vertices) has been completely built
       and this stage of the procedure terminates.  Otherwise,
       choose the vertex belonging to the candidate list that is
       closest to the root, and add it to the shortest-path tree
       (removing it from the candidate list in the process). Note
       that when there is a choice of vertices closest to the root,
       network vertices must be chosen before router vertices in
       order to necessarily find all equal-cost paths. This is
       consistent with the tie-breakers that were introduced in the
       modified Dijkstra algorithm used by OSPF's Multicast routing
       extensions (MOSPF).

   (4) Possibly modify the routing table.  For those routing table
       entries modified, the associated area will be set to Area A,
       the path type will be set to intra-area, and the cost will
       be set to the newly discovered shortest path's calculated
       distance.

       If the newly added vertex is an area border router or AS
       boundary router, a routing table entry is added whose
       destination type is "router".  The Options field found in
       the associated router-LSA is copied into the routing table
       entry's Optional capabilities field. Call the newly added
       vertex Router X.  If Router X is the endpoint of one of the
       calculating router's virtual links, and the virtual link
       uses Area A as Transit area:  the virtual link is declared
       up, the IP address of the virtual interface is set to the IP
       address of the outgoing interface calculated above for



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       Router X, and the virtual neighbor's IP address is set to
       Router X's interface address (contained in Router X's
       router-LSA) that points back to the root of the shortest-
       path tree; equivalently, this is the interface that points
       back to Router X's parent vertex on the shortest-path tree
       (similar to the calculation in Section 16.1.1).

       If the newly added vertex is a transit network, the routing
       table entry for the network is located.  The entry's
       Destination ID is the IP network number, which can be
       obtained by masking the Vertex ID (Link State ID) with its
       associated subnet mask (found in the body of the associated
       network-LSA).  If the routing table entry already exists
       (i.e., there is already an intra-area route to the
       destination installed in the routing table), multiple
       vertices have mapped to the same IP network.  For example,
       this can occur when a new Designated Router is being
       established.  In this case, the current routing table entry
       should be overwritten if and only if the newly found path is
       just as short and the current routing table entry's Link
       State Origin has a smaller Link State ID than the newly
       added vertex' LSA.

       If there is no routing table entry for the network (the
       usual case), a routing table entry for the IP network should
       be added.  The routing table entry's Link State Origin
       should be set to the newly added vertex' LSA.

   (5) Iterate the algorithm by returning to Step 2.

   The stub networks are added to the tree in the procedure's second
   stage.  In this stage, all router vertices are again examined.  Those
   that have been determined to be unreachable in the above first phase
   are discarded.  For each reachable router vertex (call it V), the
   associated router-LSA is found in the link state database.  Each stub
   network link appearing in the LSA is then examined, and the following
   steps are executed:


   (1) Calculate the distance D of stub network from the root.  D
       is equal to the distance from the root to the router vertex
       (calculated in stage 1), plus the stub network link's
       advertised cost.  Compare this distance to the current best
       cost to the stub network.  This is done by looking up the
       stub network's current routing table entry.  If the
       calculated distance D is larger, go on to examine the next
       stub network link in the LSA.




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   (2) If this step is reached, the stub network's routing table
       entry must be updated.  Calculate the set of next hops that
       would result from using the stub network link.  This
       calculation is shown in Section 16.1.1; input to this
       calculation is the destination (the stub network) and the
       parent vertex (the router vertex).  If the distance D is the
       same as the current routing table cost, simply add this set
       of next hops to the routing table entry's list of next hops.
       In this case, the routing table already has a Link State
       Origin.  If this Link State Origin is a router-LSA whose
       Link State ID is smaller than V's Router ID, reset the Link
       State Origin to V's router-LSA.

       Otherwise D is smaller than the routing table cost.
       Overwrite the current routing table entry by setting the
       routing table entry's cost to D, and by setting the entry's
       list of next hops to the newly calculated set.  Set the
       routing table entry's Link State Origin to V's router-LSA.
       Then go on to examine the next stub network link.

   For all routing table entries added/modified in the second stage, the
   associated area will be set to Area A and the path type will be set to
   intra-area.  When the list of reachable router-LSAs is exhausted, the
   second stage is completed.  At this time, all intra-area routes
   associated with Area A have been determined.

   The specification does not require that the above two stage method be
   used to calculate the shortest path tree.  However, if another
   algorithm is used, an identical tree must be produced.  For this
   reason, it is important to note that links between transit vertices
   must be bidirectional in order to be included in the above tree.  It
   should also be mentioned that more efficient algorithms exist for
   calculating the tree; for example, the incremental SPF algorithm
   described in [Ref1].

















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16.1.1.  The next hop calculation

   This section explains how to calculate the current set of next hops
   to use for a destination.  Each next hop consists of the outgoing
   interface to use in forwarding packets to the destination together
   with the IP address of the next hop router (if any).  The next hop
   calculation is invoked each time a shorter path to the destination is
   discovered.  This can happen in either stage of the shortest-path
   tree calculation (see Section 16.1).  In stage 1 of the shortest-path
   tree calculation a shorter path is found as the destination is added
   to the candidate list, or when the destination's entry on the
   candidate list is modified (Step 2d of Stage 1).  In stage 2 a
   shorter path is discovered each time the destination's routing table
   entry is modified (Step 2 of Stage 2).

   The set of next hops to use for the destination may be recalculated
   several times during the shortest-path tree calculation, as shorter
   and shorter paths are discovered.  In the end, the destination's
   routing table entry will always reflect the next hops resulting from
   the absolute shortest path(s).

   Input to the next hop calculation is a) the destination and b) its
   parent in the current shortest path between the root (the calculating
   router) and the destination.  The parent is always a transit vertex
   (i.e., always a router or a transit network).

   If there is at least one intervening router in the current shortest
   path between the destination and the root, the destination simply
   inherits the set of next hops from the parent.  Otherwise, there are
   two cases.  In the first case, the parent vertex is the root (the
   calculating router itself).  This means that the destination is
   either a directly connected network or directly connected router.
   The outgoing interface in this case is simply the OSPF interface
   connecting to the destination network/router. If the destination is a
   router which connects to the calculating router via a Point-to-
   MultiPoint network, the destination's next hop IP address(es) can be
   determined by examining the destination's router-LSA: each link
   pointing back to the calculating router and having a Link Data field
   belonging to the Point-to-MultiPoint network provides an IP address
   of the next hop router. If the destination is a directly connected
   network, or a router which connects to the calculating router via a
   point-to-point interface, no next hop IP address is required. If the
   destination is a router connected to the calculating router via a
   virtual link, the setting of the next hop should be deferred until
   the calculation in Section 16.3.






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   In the second case, the parent vertex is a network that directly
   connects the calculating router to the destination router.  The list
   of next hops is then determined by examining the destination's
   router-LSA.  For each link in the router-LSA that points back to the
   parent network, the link's Link Data field provides the IP address of
   a next hop router.  The outgoing interface to use can then be derived
   from the next hop IP address (or it can be inherited from the parent
   network).

16.2.  Calculating the inter-area routes

   The inter-area routes are calculated by examining summary-LSAs.  If
   the router has active attachments to multiple areas, only backbone
   summary-LSAs are examined.  Routers attached to a single area examine
   that area's summary-LSAs.  In either case, the summary-LSAs examined
   below are all part of a single area's link state database (call it
   Area A).

   Summary-LSAs are originated by the area border routers.  Each
   summary-LSA in Area A is considered in turn.  Remember that the
   destination described by a summary-LSA is either a network (Type 3
   summary-LSAs) or an AS boundary router (Type 4 summary-LSAs).  For
   each summary-LSA:


   (1) If the cost specified by the LSA is LSInfinity, or if the
       LSA's LS age is equal to MaxAge, then examine the the next
       LSA.

   (2) If the LSA was originated by the calculating router itself,
       examine the next LSA.

   (3) If it is a Type 3 summary-LSA, and the collection of
       destinations described by the summary-LSA equals one of the
       router's configured area address ranges (see Section 3.5),
       and the particular area address range is active, then the
       summary-LSA should be ignored.  "Active" means that there
       are one or more reachable (by intra-area paths) networks
       contained in the area range.

   (4) Else, call the destination described by the LSA N (for Type
       3 summary-LSAs, N's address is obtained by masking the LSA's
       Link State ID with the network/subnet mask contained in the
       body of the LSA), and the area border originating the LSA
       BR.  Look up the routing table entry for BR having Area A as
       its associated area.  If no such entry exists for router BR
       (i.e., BR is unreachable in Area A), do nothing with this
       LSA and consider the next in the list.  Else, this LSA



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       describes an inter-area path to destination N, whose cost is
       the distance to BR plus the cost specified in the LSA. Call
       the cost of this inter-area path IAC.

   (5) Next, look up the routing table entry for the destination N.
       (If N is an AS boundary router, look up the "router" routing
       table entry associated with Area A).  If no entry exists for
       N or if the entry's path type is "type 1 external" or "type
       2 external", then install the inter-area path to N, with
       associated area Area A, cost IAC, next hop equal to the list
       of next hops to router BR, and Advertising router equal to
       BR.

   (6) Else, if the paths present in the table are intra-area
       paths, do nothing with the LSA (intra-area paths are always
       preferred).

   (7) Else, the paths present in the routing table are also
       inter-area paths.  Install the new path through BR if it is
       cheaper, overriding the paths in the routing table.
       Otherwise, if the new path is the same cost, add it to the
       list of paths that appear in the routing table entry.

16.3.  Examining transit areas' summary-LSAs

   This step is only performed by area border routers attached to one or
   more non-backbone areas that are capable of carrying transit traffic
   (i.e., "transit areas", or those areas whose TransitCapability
   parameter has been set to TRUE in Step 2 of the Dijkstra algorithm
   (see Section 16.1).

   The purpose of the calculation below is to examine the transit areas
   to see whether they provide any better (shorter) paths than the paths
   previously calculated in Sections 16.1 and 16.2.  Any paths found
   that are better than or equal to previously discovered paths are
   installed in the routing table.

   The calculation proceeds as follows. All the transit areas' summary-
   LSAs are examined in turn.  Each such summary-LSA describes a route
   through a transit area Area A to a Network N (N's address is obtained
   by masking the LSA's Link State ID with the network/subnet mask
   contained in the body of the LSA) or in the case of a Type 4
   summary-LSA, to an AS boundary router N.  Suppose also that the
   summary-LSA was originated by an area border router BR.

   (1) If the cost advertised by the summary-LSA is LSInfinity, or
       if the LSA's LS age is equal to MaxAge, then examine the
       next LSA.



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   (2) If the summary-LSA was originated by the calculating router
       itself, examine the next LSA.

   (3) Look up the routing table entry for N. (If N is an AS
       boundary router, look up the "router" routing table entry
       associated with the backbone area). If it does not exist, or
       if the route type is other than intra-area or inter-area, or
       if the area associated with the routing table entry is not
       the backbone area, then examine the next LSA. In other
       words, this calculation only updates backbone intra-area
       routes found in Section 16.1 and inter-area routes found in
       Section 16.2.

   (4) Look up the routing table entry for the advertising router
       BR associated with the Area A. If it is unreachable, examine
       the next LSA. Otherwise, the cost to destination N is the
       sum of the cost in BR's Area A routing table entry and the
       cost advertised in the LSA. Call this cost IAC.

   (5) If this cost is less than the cost occurring in N's routing
       table entry, overwrite N's list of next hops with those used
       for BR, and set N's routing table cost to IAC. Else, if IAC
       is the same as N's current cost, add BR's list of next hops
       to N's list of next hops. In any case, the area associated
       with N's routing table entry must remain the backbone area,
       and the path type (either intra-area or inter-area) must
       also remain the same.
























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                      . Area 1 (transit)     .            +
                      .                      .            |
                      .      +---+1        1+---+100      |
                      .      |RT2|----------|RT4|=========|
                      .    1/+---+********* +---+         |
                      .    /*******          .            |
                      .  1/*Virtual          .            |
                   1+---+/*  Link            .         Net|work
             =======|RT1|*                   .            | N1
                    +---+\                   .            |
                      .   \                  .            |
                      .    \                 .            |
                      .    1\+---+1        1+---+20       |
                      .      |RT3|----------|RT5|=========|
                      .      +---+          +---+         |
                      .                      .            |
                      ........................            +


                Figure 17: Routing through transit areas

   It is important to note that the above calculation never makes
   unreachable destinations reachable, but instead just potentially
   finds better paths to already reachable destinations.  The
   calculation installs any better cost found into the routing table
   entry, from which it may be readvertised in summary-LSAs to other
   areas.

   As an example of the calculation, consider the Autonomous System
   pictured in Figure 17. There is a single non-backbone area (Area 1)
   that physically divides the backbone into two separate pieces. To
   maintain connectivity of the backbone, a virtual link has been
   configured between routers RT1 and RT4. On the right side of the
   figure, Network N1 belongs to the backbone. The dotted lines indicate
   that there is a much shorter intra-area backbone path between router
   RT5 and Network N1 (cost 20) than there is between Router RT4 and
   Network N1 (cost 100). Both Router RT4 and Router RT5 will inject
   summary-LSAs for Network N1 into Area 1.

   After the shortest-path tree has been calculated for the backbone in
   Section 16.1, Router RT1 (left end of the virtual link) will have
   calculated a path through Router RT4 for all data traffic destined
   for Network N1. However, since Router RT5 is so much closer to
   Network N1, all routers internal to Area 1 (e.g., Routers RT2 and
   RT3) will forward their Network N1 traffic towards Router RT5,
   instead of RT4. And indeed, after examining Area 1's summary-LSAs by
   the above calculation, Router RT1 will also forward Network N1
   traffic towards RT5. Note that in this example the virtual link



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   enables transit data traffic to be forwarded through Area 1, but the
   actual path the transit data traffic takes does not follow the
   virtual link.  In other words, virtual links allow transit traffic to
   be forwarded through an area, but do not dictate the precise path
   that the traffic will take.

16.4.  Calculating AS external routes

   AS external routes are calculated by examining AS-external-LSAs.
   Each of the AS-external-LSAs is considered in turn.  Most AS-
   external-LSAs describe routes to specific IP destinations.  An AS-
   external-LSA can also describe a default route for the Autonomous
   System (Destination ID = DefaultDestination, network/subnet mask =
   0x00000000).  For each AS-external-LSA:

   (1) If the cost specified by the LSA is LSInfinity, or if the
       LSA's LS age is equal to MaxAge, then examine the next LSA.

   (2) If the LSA was originated by the calculating router itself,
       examine the next LSA.

   (3) Call the destination described by the LSA N.  N's address is
       obtained by masking the LSA's Link State ID with the
       network/subnet mask contained in the body of the LSA.  Look
       up the routing table entries (potentially one per attached
       area) for the AS boundary router (ASBR) that originated the
       LSA. If no entries exist for router ASBR (i.e., ASBR is
       unreachable), do nothing with this LSA and consider the next
       in the list.

       Else, this LSA describes an AS external path to destination
       N.  Examine the forwarding address specified in the AS-
       external-LSA.  This indicates the IP address to which
       packets for the destination should be forwarded.

       If the forwarding address is set to 0.0.0.0, packets should
       be sent to the ASBR itself. Among the multiple routing table
       entries for the ASBR, select the preferred entry as follows.
       If RFC1583Compatibility is set to "disabled", prune the set
       of routing table entries for the ASBR as described in
       Section 16.4.1. In any case, among the remaining routing
       table entries, select the routing table entry with the least
       cost; when there are multiple least cost routing table
       entries the entry whose associated area has the largest OSPF
       Area ID (when considered as an unsigned 32-bit integer) is
       chosen.





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       If the forwarding address is non-zero, look up the
       forwarding address in the routing table.[24] The matching
       routing table entry must specify an intra-area or inter-area
       path; if no such path exists, do nothing with the LSA and
       consider the next in the list.

   (4) Let X be the cost specified by the preferred routing table
       entry for the ASBR/forwarding address, and Y the cost
       specified in the LSA.  X is in terms of the link state
       metric, and Y is a type 1 or 2 external metric.

   (5) Look up the routing table entry for the destination N.  If
       no entry exists for N, install the AS external path to N,
       with next hop equal to the list of next hops to the
       forwarding address, and advertising router equal to ASBR.
       If the external metric type is 1, then the path-type is set
       to type 1 external and the cost is equal to X+Y.  If the
       external metric type is 2, the path-type is set to type 2
       external, the link state component of the route's cost is X,
       and the type 2 cost is Y.

   (6) Compare the AS external path described by the LSA with the
       existing paths in N's routing table entry, as follows. If
       the new path is preferred, it replaces the present paths in
       N's routing table entry.  If the new path is of equal
       preference, it is added to N's routing table entry's list of
       paths.

       (a) Intra-area and inter-area paths are always preferred
           over AS external paths.

       (b) Type 1 external paths are always preferred over type 2
           external paths. When all paths are type 2 external
           paths, the paths with the smallest advertised type 2
           metric are always preferred.

       (c) If the new AS external path is still indistinguishable
           from the current paths in the N's routing table entry,
           and RFC1583Compatibility is set to "disabled", select
           the preferred paths based on the intra-AS paths to the
           ASBR/forwarding addresses, as specified in Section
           16.4.1.









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       (d) If the new AS external path is still indistinguishable
           from the current paths in the N's routing table entry,
           select the preferred path based on a least cost
           comparison.  Type 1 external paths are compared by
           looking at the sum of the distance to the forwarding
           address and the advertised type 1 metric (X+Y).  Type 2
           external paths advertising equal type 2 metrics are
           compared by looking at the distance to the forwarding
           addresses.

16.4.1.  External path preferences

   When multiple intra-AS paths are available to ASBRs/forwarding
   addresses, the following rules indicate which paths are preferred.
   These rules apply when the same ASBR is reachable through multiple
   areas, or when trying to decide which of several AS-external-LSAs
   should be preferred. In the former case the paths all terminate at
   the same ASBR, while in the latter the paths terminate at separate
   ASBRs/forwarding addresses. In either case, each path is represented
   by a separate routing table entry as defined in Section 11.

   This section only applies when RFC1583Compatibility is set to
   "disabled".

   The path preference rules, stated from highest to lowest preference,
   are as follows. Note that as a result of these rules, there may still
   be multiple paths of the highest preference. In this case, the path
   to use must be determined based on cost, as described in Section
   16.4.

    o   Intra-area paths using non-backbone areas are always the
        most preferred.

    o   Otherwise, intra-area backbone paths are preferred.

    o   Inter-area paths are the least preferred.

16.5.  Incremental updates -- summary-LSAs

   When a new summary-LSA is received, it is not necessary to
   recalculate the entire routing table.  Call the destination described
   by the summary-LSA N (N's address is obtained by masking the LSA's
   Link State ID with the network/subnet mask contained in the body of
   the LSA), and let Area A be the area to which the LSA belongs. There
   are then two separate cases:






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   Case 1: Area A is the backbone and/or the router is not an area
   border router.
      In this case, the following calculations must be performed.
      First, if there is presently an inter-area route to the
      destination N, N's routing table entry is invalidated, saving the
      entry's values for later comparisons. Then the calculation in
      Section 16.2 is run again for the single destination N. In this
      calculation, all of Area A's summary-LSAs that describe a route to
      N are examined.  In addition, if the router is an area border
      router attached to one or more transit areas, the calculation in
      Section 16.3 must be run again for the single destination.  If the
      results of these calculations have changed the cost/path to an AS
      boundary router (as would be the case for a Type 4 summary-LSA) or
      to any forwarding addresses, all AS- external-LSAs will have to be
      reexamined by rerunning the calculation in Section 16.4.
      Otherwise, if N is now newly unreachable, the calculation in
      Section 16.4 must be rerun for the single destination N, in case
      an alternate external route to N exists.

   Case 2: Area A is a transit area and the router is an area border
   router.
      In this case, the following calculations must be performed.
      First, if N's routing table entry presently contains one or more
      inter-area paths that utilize the transit area Area A, these paths
      should be removed. If this removes all paths from the routing
      table entry, the entry should be invalidated.  The entry's old
      values should be saved for later comparisons. Next the calculation
      in Section 16.3 must be run again for the single destination N. If
      the results of this calculation have caused the cost to N to
      increase, the complete routing table calculation must be rerun
      starting with the Dijkstra algorithm specified in Section 16.1.
      Otherwise, if the cost/path to an AS boundary router (as would be
      the case for a Type 4 summary-LSA) or to any forwarding addresses
      has changed, all AS-external-LSAs will have to be reexamined by
      rerunning the calculation in Section 16.4.  Otherwise, if N is now
      newly unreachable, the calculation in Section 16.4 must be rerun
      for the single destination N, in case an alternate external route
      to N exists.

16.6.  Incremental updates -- AS-external-LSAs

   When a new AS-external-LSA is received, it is not necessary to
   recalculate the entire routing table.  Call the destination described
   by the AS-external-LSA N.  N's address is obtained by masking the
   LSA's Link State ID with the network/subnet mask contained in the
   body of the LSA. If there is already an intra- area or inter-area
   route to the destination, no recalculation is necessary (internal
   routes take precedence).



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   Otherwise, the procedure in Section 16.4 will have to be performed,
   but only for those AS-external-LSAs whose destination is N.  Before
   this procedure is performed, the present routing table entry for N
   should be invalidated.

16.7.  Events generated as a result of routing table changes

   Changes to routing table entries sometimes cause the OSPF area border
   routers to take additional actions.  These routers need to act on the
   following routing table changes:

   o   The cost or path type of a routing table entry has changed.
      If the destination described by this entry is a Network or AS
      boundary router, and this is not simply a change of AS external
      routes, new summary-LSAs may have to be generated (potentially one
      for each attached area, including the backbone). See Section
      12.4.3 for more information.  If a previously advertised entry has
      been deleted, or is no longer advertisable to a particular area,
      the LSA must be flushed from the routing domain by setting its LS
      age to MaxAge and reflooding (see Section 14.1).

   o   A routing table entry associated with a configured virtual
      link has changed.  The destination of such a routing table entry
      is an area border router.  The change indicates a modification to
      the virtual link's cost or viability.

      If the entry indicates that the area border router is newly
      reachable, the corresponding virtual link is now operational.  An
      InterfaceUp event should be generated for the virtual link, which
      will cause a virtual adjacency to begin to form (see Section
      10.3).  At this time the virtual link's IP interface address and
      the virtual neighbor's Neighbor IP address are also calculated.

      If the entry indicates that the area border router is no longer
      reachable, the virtual link and its associated adjacency should be
      destroyed.  This means an InterfaceDown event should be generated
      for the associated virtual link.

      If the cost of the entry has changed, and there is a fully
      established virtual adjacency, a new router-LSA for the backbone
      must be originated.  This in turn may cause further routing table
      changes.









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16.8.  Equal-cost multipath

   The OSPF protocol maintains multiple equal-cost routes to all
   destinations.  This can be seen in the steps used above to calculate
   the routing table, and in the definition of the routing table
   structure.

   Each one of the multiple routes will be of the same type (intra-area,
   inter-area, type 1 external or type 2 external), cost, and will have
   the same associated area.  However, each route specifies a separate
   next hop and Advertising router.

   There is no requirement that a router running OSPF keep track of all
   possible equal-cost routes to a destination.  An implementation may
   choose to keep only a fixed number of routes to any given
   destination.  This does not affect any of the algorithms presented in
   this specification.


































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Footnotes

   [1]The graph's vertices represent either routers, transit networks,
   or stub networks.  Since routers may belong to multiple areas, it is
   not possible to color the graph's vertices.

   [2]It is possible for all of a router's interfaces to be unnumbered
   point-to-point links.  In this case, an IP address must be assigned
   to the router.  This address will then be advertised in the router's
   router-LSA as a host route.

   [3]Note that in these cases both interfaces, the non-virtual and the
   virtual, would have the same IP address.

   [4]Note that no host route is generated for, and no IP packets can be
   addressed to, interfaces to unnumbered point-to-point networks.  This
   is regardless of such an interface's state.

   [5]It is instructive to see what happens when the Designated Router
   for the network crashes.  Call the Designated Router for the network
   RT1, and the Backup Designated Router RT2. If Router RT1 crashes (or
   maybe its interface to the network dies), the other routers on the
   network will detect RT1's absence within RouterDeadInterval seconds.
   All routers may not detect this at precisely the same time; the
   routers that detect RT1's absence before RT2 does will, for a time,
   select RT2 to be both Designated Router and Backup Designated Router.
   When RT2 detects that RT1 is gone it will move itself to Designated
   Router.  At this time, the remaining router having highest Router
   Priority will be selected as Backup Designated Router.

   [6]On point-to-point networks, the lower level protocols indicate
   whether the neighbor is up and running.  Likewise, existence of the
   neighbor on virtual links is indicated by the routing table
   calculation.  However, in both these cases, the Hello Protocol is
   still used.  This ensures that communication between the neighbors is
   bidirectional, and that each of the neighbors has a functioning
   routing protocol layer.

   [7]When the identity of the Designated Router is changing, it may be
   quite common for a neighbor in this state to send the router a
   Database Description packet; this means that there is some momentary
   disagreement on the Designated Router's identity.

   [8]Note that it is possible for a router to resynchronize any of its
   fully established adjacencies by setting the adjacency's state back
   to ExStart.  This will cause the other end of the adjacency to
   process a SeqNumberMismatch event, and therefore to also go back to
   ExStart state.



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   [9]The address space of IP networks and the address space of OSPF
   Router IDs may overlap.  That is, a network may have an IP address
   which is identical (when considered as a 32-bit number) to some
   router's Router ID.

   [10]"Discard" entries are necessary to ensure that route
   summarization at area boundaries will not cause packet looping.

   [11]It is assumed that, for two different address ranges matching the
   destination, one range is more specific than the other. Non-
   contiguous subnet masks can be configured to violate this assumption.
   Such subnet mask configurations cannot be handled by the OSPF
   protocol.

   [12]MaxAgeDiff is an architectural constant.  It indicates the
   maximum dispersion of ages, in seconds, that can occur for a single
   LSA instance as it is flooded throughout the routing domain.  If two
   LSAs differ by more than this, they are assumed to be different
   instances of the same LSA. This can occur when a router restarts and
   loses track of the LSA's previous LS sequence number.  See Section
   13.4 for more details.

   [13]When two LSAs have different LS checksums, they are assumed to be
   separate instances.  This can occur when a router restarts, and loses
   track of the LSA's previous LS sequence number.  In the case where
   the two LSAs have the same LS sequence number, it is not possible to
   determine which LSA is actually newer. However, if the wrong LSA is
   accepted as newer, the originating router will simply originate
   another instance.  See Section 13.4 for further details.

   [14]There is one instance where a lookup must be done based on
   partial information.  This is during the routing table calculation,
   when a network-LSA must be found based solely on its Link State ID.
   The lookup in this case is still well defined, since no two network-
   LSAs can have the same Link State ID.

   [15]This is the way RFC 1583 specified point-to-point representation.
   It has three advantages: a) it does not require allocating a subnet
   to the point-to-point link, b) it tends to bias the routing so that
   packets destined for the point-to-point interface will actually be
   received over the interface (which is useful for diagnostic purposes)
   and c) it allows network bootstrapping of a neighbor, without
   requiring that the bootstrap program contain an OSPF implementation.

   [16]This is the more traditional point-to-point representation used
   by protocols such as RIP.





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   [17]This clause covers the case: Inter-area routes are not summarized
   to the backbone.  This is because inter-area routes are always
   associated with the backbone area.

   [18]This clause is only invoked when a non-backbone Area A supports
   transit data traffic (i.e., has TransitCapability set to TRUE).  For
   example, in the area configuration of Figure 6, Area 2 can support
   transit traffic due to the configured virtual link between Routers
   RT10 and RT11. As a result, Router RT11 need only originate a single
   summary-LSA into Area 2 (having the collapsed destination N9-N11,H1),
   since all of Router RT11's other eligible routes have next hops
   belonging to Area 2 itself (and as such only need be advertised by
   other area border routers; in this case, Routers RT10 and RT7).

   [19]By keeping more information in the routing table, it is possible
   for an implementation to recalculate the shortest path tree for only
   a single area.  In fact, there are incremental algorithms that allow
   an implementation to recalculate only a portion of a single area's
   shortest path tree [Ref1]. However, these algorithms are beyond the
   scope of this specification.

   [20]This is how the Link state request list is emptied, which
   eventually causes the neighbor state to transition to Full.  See
   Section 10.9 for more details.

   [21]It should be a relatively rare occurrence for an LSA's LS age to
   reach MaxAge in this fashion.  Usually, the LSA will be replaced by a
   more recent instance before it ages out.

   [22]Strictly speaking, because of equal-cost multipath, the algorithm
   does not create a tree.  We continue to use the "tree" terminology
   because that is what occurs most often in the existing literature.

   [23]Note that the presence of any link back to V is sufficient; it
   need not be the matching half of the link under consideration from V
   to W. This is enough to ensure that, before data traffic flows
   between a pair of neighboring routers, their link state databases
   will be synchronized.

   [24]When the forwarding address is non-zero, it should point to a
   router belonging to another Autonomous System.  See Section 12.4.4
   for more details.









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References

   [Ref1]  McQuillan, J., I. Richer and E. Rosen, "ARPANET Routing
           Algorithm Improvements", BBN Technical Report 3803, April
           1978.

   [Ref2]  Digital Equipment Corporation, "Information processing
           systems -- Data communications -- Intermediate System to
           Intermediate System Intra-Domain Routing Protocol", October
           1987.

   [Ref3]  McQuillan, J. et.al., "The New Routing Algorithm for the
           ARPANET", IEEE Transactions on Communications, May 1980.

   [Ref4]  Perlman, R., "Fault-Tolerant Broadcast of Routing
           Information", Computer Networks, December 1983.

   [Ref5]  Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791,
           USC/Information Sciences Institute, September 1981.

   [Ref6]  McKenzie, A., "ISO Transport Protocol specification ISO DP
           8073", RFC 905, ISO, April 1984.

   [Ref7]  Deering, S., "Host extensions for IP multicasting", STD 5,
           RFC 1112, Stanford University, May 1988.

   [Ref8]  McCloghrie, K., and M. Rose, "Management Information Base
           for network management of TCP/IP-based internets: MIB-II",
           STD 17, RFC 1213, Hughes LAN Systems, Performance Systems
           International, March 1991.

   [Ref9]  Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", RFC 1583, Proteon, Inc., March
           1994.

   [Ref10] Fuller, V., T. Li, J. Yu, and K. Varadhan, "Classless
           Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR): an Address Assignment and
           Aggregation Strategy", RFC1519, BARRNet, cisco, MERIT,
           OARnet, September 1993.

   [Ref11] Reynolds, J., and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2, RFC
           1700, USC/Information Sciences Institute, October 1994.

   [Ref12] Almquist, P., "Type of Service in the Internet Protocol
           Suite", RFC 1349, July 1992.

   [Ref13] Leiner, B., et.al., "The DARPA Internet Protocol Suite", DDN
           Protocol Handbook, April 1985.




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   [Ref14] Bradley, T., and C. Brown, "Inverse Address Resolution
           Protocol", RFC 1293, January 1992.

   [Ref15] deSouza, O., and M. Rodrigues, "Guidelines for Running OSPF
           Over Frame Relay Networks", RFC 1586, March 1994.

   [Ref16] Bellovin, S., "Security Problems in the TCP/IP Protocol
           Suite", ACM Computer Communications Review, Volume 19,
           Number 2, pp. 32-38, April 1989.

   [Ref17] Rivest, R., "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm", RFC 1321,
           April 1992.

   [Ref18] Moy, J., "Multicast Extensions to OSPF", RFC 1584, Proteon,
           Inc., March 1994.

   [Ref19] Coltun, R. and V. Fuller, "The OSPF NSSA Option", RFC 1587,
           RainbowBridge Communications, Stanford University, March
           1994.

   [Ref20] Ferguson, D., "The OSPF External Attributes LSA", work in
           progress.

   [Ref21] Moy, J., "Extending OSPF to Support Demand Circuits", RFC
           1793, Cascade, April 1995.

   [Ref22] Mogul, J. and S. Deering, "Path MTU Discovery", RFC 1191,
           DECWRL, Stanford University, November 1990.

   [Ref23] Rekhter, Y. and T. Li, "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-
           4)", RFC 1771, T.J. Watson Research Center, IBM Corp., cisco
           Systems, March 1995.

   [Ref24] Hinden, R., "Internet Routing Protocol Standardization
           Criteria", BBN, October 1991.
















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A. OSPF data formats

   This appendix describes the format of OSPF protocol packets and OSPF
   LSAs.  The OSPF protocol runs directly over the IP network layer.
   Before any data formats are described, the details of the OSPF
   encapsulation are explained.

   Next the OSPF Options field is described.  This field describes
   various capabilities that may or may not be supported by pieces of
   the OSPF routing domain. The OSPF Options field is contained in OSPF
   Hello packets, Database Description packets and in OSPF LSAs.

   OSPF packet formats are detailed in Section A.3.  A description of
   OSPF LSAs appears in Section A.4.

A.1 Encapsulation of OSPF packets

   OSPF runs directly over the Internet Protocol's network layer.  OSPF
   packets are therefore encapsulated solely by IP and local data-link
   headers.

   OSPF does not define a way to fragment its protocol packets, and
   depends on IP fragmentation when transmitting packets larger than the
   network MTU. If necessary, the length of OSPF packets can be up to
   65,535 bytes (including the IP header). The OSPF packet types that
   are likely to be large (Database Description Packets, Link State
   Request, Link State Update, and Link State Acknowledgment packets)
   can usually be split into several separate protocol packets, without
   loss of functionality.  This is recommended; IP fragmentation should
   be avoided whenever possible. Using this reasoning, an attempt should
   be made to limit the sizes of OSPF packets sent over virtual links to
   576 bytes unless Path MTU Discovery is being performed (see [Ref22]).

   The other important features of OSPF's IP encapsulation are:

   o  Use of IP multicast.  Some OSPF messages are multicast, when
      sent over broadcast networks.  Two distinct IP multicast addresses
      are used.  Packets sent to these multicast addresses should never
      be forwarded; they are meant to travel a single hop only.  To
      ensure that these packets will not travel multiple hops, their IP
      TTL must be set to 1.










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   AllSPFRouters
      This multicast address has been assigned the value 224.0.0.5. All
      routers running OSPF should be prepared to receive packets sent to
      this address.  Hello packets are always sent to this destination.
      Also, certain OSPF protocol packets are sent to this address
      during the flooding procedure.

   AllDRouters
      This multicast address has been assigned the value 224.0.0.6. Both
      the Designated Router and Backup Designated Router must be
      prepared to receive packets destined to this address.  Certain
      OSPF protocol packets are sent to this address during the flooding
      procedure.

   o   OSPF is IP protocol number 89.  This number has been registered
       with the Network Information Center.  IP protocol number
       assignments are documented in [Ref11].

   o   All OSPF routing protocol packets are sent using the normal
       service TOS value of binary 0000 defined in [Ref12].

   o   Routing protocol packets are sent with IP precedence set to
       Internetwork Control.  OSPF protocol packets should be given
       precedence over regular IP data traffic, in both sending and
       receiving.  Setting the IP precedence field in the IP header to
       Internetwork Control [Ref5] may help implement this objective.

























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A.2 The Options field

   The OSPF Options field is present in OSPF Hello packets, Database
   Description packets and all LSAs.  The Options field enables OSPF
   routers to support (or not support) optional capabilities, and to
   communicate their capability level to other OSPF routers.  Through
   this mechanism routers of differing capabilities can be mixed within
   an OSPF routing domain.

   When used in Hello packets, the Options field allows a router to
   reject a neighbor because of a capability mismatch.  Alternatively,
   when capabilities are exchanged in Database Description packets a
   router can choose not to forward certain LSAs to a neighbor because
   of its reduced functionality.  Lastly, listing capabilities in LSAs
   allows routers to forward traffic around reduced functionality
   routers, by excluding them from parts of the routing table
   calculation.

   Five bits of the OSPF Options field have been assigned, although only
   one (the E-bit) is described completely by this memo. Each bit is
   described briefly below. Routers should reset (i.e. clear)
   unrecognized bits in the Options field when sending Hello packets or
   Database Description packets and when originating LSAs. Conversely,
   routers encountering unrecognized Option bits in received Hello
   Packets, Database Description packets or LSAs should ignore the
   capability and process the packet/LSA normally.

               +------------------------------------+
               | * | * | DC | EA | N/P | MC | E | * |
               +------------------------------------+

                           The Options field

   E-bit
      This bit describes the way AS-external-LSAs are flooded, as
      described in Sections 3.6, 9.5, 10.8 and 12.1.2 of this memo.

   MC-bit
      This bit describes whether IP multicast datagrams are forwarded
      according to the specifications in [Ref18].

   N/P-bit
      This bit describes the handling of Type-7 LSAs, as specified in
      [Ref19].

   EA-bit
      This bit describes the router's willingness to receive and
      forward External-Attributes-LSAs, as specified in [Ref20].



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   DC-bit
      This bit describes the router's handling of demand circuits, as
      specified in [Ref21].

A.3 OSPF Packet Formats

   There are five distinct OSPF packet types. All OSPF packet types
   begin with a standard 24 byte header.  This header is described
   first.  Each packet type is then described in a succeeding section.
   In these sections each packet's division into fields is displayed,
   and then the field definitions are enumerated.

   All OSPF packet types (other than the OSPF Hello packets) deal with
   lists of LSAs.  For example, Link State Update packets implement the
   flooding of LSAs throughout the OSPF routing domain.  Because of
   this, OSPF protocol packets cannot be parsed unless the format of
   LSAs is also understood.  The format of LSAs is described in Section
   A.4.

   The receive processing of OSPF packets is detailed in Section 8.2.
   The sending of OSPF packets is explained in Section 8.1.






























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A.3.1 The OSPF packet header

   Every OSPF packet starts with a standard 24 byte header.  This header
   contains all the information necessary to determine whether the
   packet should be accepted for further processing.  This determination
   is described in Section 8.2 of the specification.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   Version #   |     Type      |         Packet length         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Router ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                           Area ID                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |           Checksum            |             AuType            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   Version #
      The OSPF version number.  This specification documents version 2
      of the protocol.

   Type
      The OSPF packet types are as follows. See Sections A.3.2 through
      A.3.6 for details.

                  Type   Description
                  ________________________________
                  1      Hello
                  2      Database Description
                  3      Link State Request
                  4      Link State Update
                  5      Link State Acknowledgment


   Packet length
      The length of the OSPF protocol packet in bytes.  This length
      includes the standard OSPF header.

   Router ID
      The Router ID of the packet's source.




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   Area ID
      A 32 bit number identifying the area that this packet belongs
      to.  All OSPF packets are associated with a single area.  Most
      travel a single hop only.  Packets travelling over a virtual
      link are labelled with the backbone Area ID of 0.0.0.0.

   Checksum
      The standard IP checksum of the entire contents of the packet,
      starting with the OSPF packet header but excluding the 64-bit
      authentication field.  This checksum is calculated as the 16-bit
      one's complement of the one's complement sum of all the 16-bit
      words in the packet, excepting the authentication field.  If the
      packet's length is not an integral number of 16-bit words, the
      packet is padded with a byte of zero before checksumming.  The
      checksum is considered to be part of the packet authentication
      procedure; for some authentication types the checksum
      calculation is omitted.

   AuType
      Identifies the authentication procedure to be used for the
      packet.  Authentication is discussed in Appendix D of the
      specification.  Consult Appendix D for a list of the currently
      defined authentication types.

   Authentication
      A 64-bit field for use by the authentication scheme. See
      Appendix D for details.
























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A.3.2 The Hello packet

   Hello packets are OSPF packet type 1.  These packets are sent
   periodically on all interfaces (including virtual links) in order to
   establish and maintain neighbor relationships.  In addition, Hello
   Packets are multicast on those physical networks having a multicast
   or broadcast capability, enabling dynamic discovery of neighboring
   routers.

   All routers connected to a common network must agree on certain
   parameters (Network mask, HelloInterval and RouterDeadInterval).
   These parameters are included in Hello packets, so that differences
   can inhibit the forming of neighbor relationships. A detailed
   explanation of the receive processing for Hello packets is presented
   in Section 10.5.  The sending of Hello packets is covered in Section
   9.5.


        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   Version #   |       1       |         Packet length         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Router ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                           Area ID                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |           Checksum            |             AuType            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Network Mask                           |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         HelloInterval         |    Options    |    Rtr Pri    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     RouterDeadInterval                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                      Designated Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                   Backup Designated Router                    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Neighbor                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |





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   Network mask
      The network mask associated with this interface.  For example,
      if the interface is to a class B network whose third byte is
      used for subnetting, the network mask is 0xffffff00.

   Options
      The optional capabilities supported by the router, as documented
      in Section A.2.

   HelloInterval
      The number of seconds between this router's Hello packets.

   Rtr Pri
      This router's Router Priority.  Used in (Backup) Designated
      Router election.  If set to 0, the router will be ineligible to
      become (Backup) Designated Router.

   RouterDeadInterval
      The number of seconds before declaring a silent router down.

   Designated Router
      The identity of the Designated Router for this network, in the
      view of the sending router.  The Designated Router is identified
      here by its IP interface address on the network.  Set to 0.0.0.0
      if there is no Designated Router.

   Backup Designated Router
      The identity of the Backup Designated Router for this network,
      in the view of the sending router.  The Backup Designated Router
      is identified here by its IP interface address on the network.
      Set to 0.0.0.0 if there is no Backup Designated Router.

   Neighbor
      The Router IDs of each router from whom valid Hello packets have
      been seen recently on the network.  Recently means in the last
      RouterDeadInterval seconds.















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A.3.3 The Database Description packet

   Database Description packets are OSPF packet type 2.  These packets
   are exchanged when an adjacency is being initialized.  They describe
   the contents of the link-state database.  Multiple packets may be
   used to describe the database.  For this purpose a poll-response
   procedure is used. One of the routers is designated to be the master,
   the other the slave.  The master sends Database Description packets
   (polls) which are acknowledged by Database Description packets sent
   by the slave (responses).  The responses are linked to the polls via
   the packets' DD sequence numbers.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   Version #   |       2       |         Packet length         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Router ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                           Area ID                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |           Checksum            |             AuType            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         Interface MTU         |    Options    |0|0|0|0|0|I|M|MS
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     DD sequence number                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                             -+
       |                                                               |
       +-                      An LSA Header                          -+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                             -+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                             -+
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |


   The format of the Database Description packet is very similar to both
   the Link State Request and Link State Acknowledgment packets.  The
   main part of all three is a list of items, each item describing a
   piece of the link-state database.  The sending of Database



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   Description Packets is documented in Section 10.8. The reception of
   Database Description packets is documented in Section 10.6.

   Interface MTU
      The size in bytes of the largest IP datagram that can be sent out
      the associated interface, without fragmentation.  The MTUs of
      common Internet link types can be found in Table 7-1 of [Ref22].
      Interface MTU should be set to 0 in Database Description packets
      sent over virtual links.

   Options
      The optional capabilities supported by the router, as documented
      in Section A.2.

   I-bit
      The Init bit.  When set to 1, this packet is the first in the
      sequence of Database Description Packets.

   M-bit
      The More bit.  When set to 1, it indicates that more Database
      Description Packets are to follow.

   MS-bit
      The Master/Slave bit.  When set to 1, it indicates that the router
      is the master during the Database Exchange process.  Otherwise,
      the router is the slave.

   DD sequence number
      Used to sequence the collection of Database Description Packets.
      The initial value (indicated by the Init bit being set) should be
      unique.  The DD sequence number then increments until the complete
      database description has been sent.

   The rest of the packet consists of a (possibly partial) list of the
   link-state database's pieces.  Each LSA in the database is described
   by its LSA header. The LSA header is documented in Section A.4.1.  It
   contains all the information required to uniquely identify both the
   LSA and the LSA's current instance.













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A.3.4 The Link State Request packet

   Link State Request packets are OSPF packet type 3. After exchanging
   Database Description packets with a neighboring router, a router may
   find that parts of its link-state database are out-of-date.  The Link
   State Request packet is used to request the pieces of the neighbor's
   database that are more up-to-date.  Multiple Link State Request
   packets may need to be used.

   A router that sends a Link State Request packet has in mind the
   precise instance of the database pieces it is requesting. Each
   instance is defined by its LS sequence number, LS checksum, and LS
   age, although these fields are not specified in the Link State
   Request Packet itself.  The router may receive even more recent
   instances in response.

   The sending of Link State Request packets is documented in Section
   10.9.  The reception of Link State Request packets is documented in
   Section 10.7.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   Version #   |       3       |         Packet length         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Router ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                           Area ID                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |           Checksum            |             AuType            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          LS type                              |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Link State ID                           |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Advertising Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |

   Each LSA requested is specified by its LS type, Link State ID, and
   Advertising Router.  This uniquely identifies the LSA, but not its
   instance.  Link State Request packets are understood to be requests
   for the most recent instance (whatever that might be).




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A.3.5 The Link State Update packet

   Link State Update packets are OSPF packet type 4.  These packets
   implement the flooding of LSAs.  Each Link State Update packet
   carries a collection of LSAs one hop further from their origin.
   Several LSAs may be included in a single packet.

   Link State Update packets are multicast on those physical networks
   that support multicast/broadcast.  In order to make the flooding
   procedure reliable, flooded LSAs are acknowledged in Link State
   Acknowledgment packets.  If retransmission of certain LSAs is
   necessary, the retransmitted LSAs are always carried by unicast Link
   State Update packets.  For more information on the reliable flooding
   of LSAs, consult Section 13.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   Version #   |       4       |         Packet length         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Router ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                           Area ID                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |           Checksum            |             AuType            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                            # LSAs                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                            +-+
       |                             LSAs                              |
       +-                                                            +-+
       |                              ...                              |



   # LSAs
      The number of LSAs included in this update.

   The body of the Link State Update packet consists of a list of LSAs.
   Each LSA begins with a common 20 byte header, described in Section
   A.4.1. Detailed formats of the different types of LSAs are described
   in Section A.4.




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A.3.6 The Link State Acknowledgment packet

   Link State Acknowledgment Packets are OSPF packet type 5.  To make
   the flooding of LSAs reliable, flooded LSAs are explicitly
   acknowledged.  This acknowledgment is accomplished through the
   sending and receiving of Link State Acknowledgment packets.  Multiple
   LSAs can be acknowledged in a single Link State Acknowledgment
   packet.

   Depending on the state of the sending interface and the sender of the
   corresponding Link State Update packet, a Link State Acknowledgment
   packet is sent either to the multicast address AllSPFRouters, to the
   multicast address AllDRouters, or as a unicast.  The sending of Link
   State Acknowledgment packets is documented in Section 13.5.  The
   reception of Link State Acknowledgment packets is documented in
   Section 13.7.

   The format of this packet is similar to that of the Data Description
   packet.  The body of both packets is simply a list of LSA headers.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   Version #   |       5       |         Packet length         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Router ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                           Area ID                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |           Checksum            |             AuType            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Authentication                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                             -+
       |                                                               |
       +-                         An LSA Header                       -+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                             -+
       |                                                               |
       +-                                                             -+
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |





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   Each acknowledged LSA is described by its LSA header.  The LSA header
   is documented in Section A.4.1.  It contains all the information
   required to uniquely identify both the LSA and the LSA's current
   instance.

A.4 LSA formats

   This memo defines five distinct types of LSAs.  Each LSA begins with
   a standard 20 byte LSA header.  This header is explained in Section
   A.4.1.  Succeeding sections then diagram the separate LSA types.

   Each LSA describes a piece of the OSPF routing domain.  Every router
   originates a router-LSA.  In addition, whenever the router is elected
   Designated Router, it originates a network-LSA.  Other types of LSAs
   may also be originated (see Section 12.4). All LSAs are then flooded
   throughout the OSPF routing domain.  The flooding algorithm is
   reliable, ensuring that all routers have the same collection of LSAs.
   (See Section 13 for more information concerning the flooding
   algorithm).  This collection of LSAs is called the link-state
   database.

   From the link state database, each router constructs a shortest path
   tree with itself as root.  This yields a routing table (see Section
   11).  For the details of the routing table build process, see Section
   16.


























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A.4.1 The LSA header

   All LSAs begin with a common 20 byte header.  This header contains
   enough information to uniquely identify the LSA (LS type, Link State
   ID, and Advertising Router).  Multiple instances of the LSA may exist
   in the routing domain at the same time.  It is then necessary to
   determine which instance is more recent.  This is accomplished by
   examining the LS age, LS sequence number and LS checksum fields that
   are also contained in the LSA header.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |            LS age             |    Options    |    LS type    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Link State ID                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Advertising Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     LS sequence number                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         LS checksum           |             length            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   LS age
      The time in seconds since the LSA was originated.

   Options
      The optional capabilities supported by the described portion of
      the routing domain.  OSPF's optional capabilities are documented
      in Section A.2.

   LS type
      The type of the LSA.  Each LSA type has a separate advertisement
      format.  The LSA types defined in this memo are as follows (see
      Section 12.1.3 for further explanation):


        LS Type   Description
        ___________________________________
        1         Router-LSAs
        2         Network-LSAs
        3         Summary-LSAs (IP network)
        4         Summary-LSAs (ASBR)
        5         AS-external-LSAs





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   Link State ID
      This field identifies the portion of the internet environment
      that is being described by the LSA.  The contents of this field
      depend on the LSA's LS type.  For example, in network-LSAs the
      Link State ID is set to the IP interface address of the
      network's Designated Router (from which the network's IP address
      can be derived).  The Link State ID is further discussed in
      Section 12.1.4.

   Advertising Router
      The Router ID of the router that originated the LSA.  For
      example, in network-LSAs this field is equal to the Router ID of
      the network's Designated Router.

   LS sequence number
      Detects old or duplicate LSAs.  Successive instances of an LSA
      are given successive LS sequence numbers.  See Section 12.1.6
      for more details.

   LS checksum
      The Fletcher checksum of the complete contents of the LSA,
      including the LSA header but excluding the LS age field. See
      Section 12.1.7 for more details.

   length
      The length in bytes of the LSA.  This includes the 20 byte LSA
      header.
























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A.4.2 Router-LSAs

   Router-LSAs are the Type 1 LSAs.  Each router in an area originates a
   router-LSA.  The LSA describes the state and cost of the router's
   links (i.e., interfaces) to the area.  All of the router's links to
   the area must be described in a single router-LSA. For details
   concerning the construction of router-LSAs, see Section 12.4.1.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |            LS age             |     Options   |       1       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Link State ID                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Advertising Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     LS sequence number                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         LS checksum           |             length            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |    0    |V|E|B|        0      |            # links            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Link ID                              |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                         Link Data                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |     Type      |     # TOS     |            metric             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |      TOS      |        0      |          TOS  metric          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                          Link ID                              |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                         Link Data                             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |


   In router-LSAs, the Link State ID field is set to the router's OSPF
   Router ID. Router-LSAs are flooded throughout a single area only.

   bit V
      When set, the router is an endpoint of one or more fully adjacent
      virtual links having the described area as Transit area (V is for
      virtual link endpoint).




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   bit E
      When set, the router is an AS boundary router (E is for external).

   bit B
      When set, the router is an area border router (B is for border).

   # links
      The number of router links described in this LSA.  This must be
      the total collection of router links (i.e., interfaces) to the
      area.

   The following fields are used to describe each router link (i.e.,
   interface). Each router link is typed (see the below Type field).
   The Type field indicates the kind of link being described. It may be
   a link to a transit network, to another router or to a stub network.
   The values of all the other fields describing a router link depend on
   the link's Type.  For example, each link has an associated 32-bit
   Link Data field. For links to stub networks this field specifies the
   network's IP address mask.  For other link types the Link Data field
   specifies the router interface's IP address.

   Type
      A quick description of the router link.  One of the following.
      Note that host routes are classified as links to stub networks
      with network mask of 0xffffffff.

         Type   Description
         __________________________________________________
         1      Point-to-point connection to another router
         2      Connection to a transit network
         3      Connection to a stub network
         4      Virtual link

   Link ID
      Identifies the object that this router link connects to.  Value
      depends on the link's Type.  When connecting to an object that
      also originates an LSA (i.e., another router or a transit
      network) the Link ID is equal to the neighboring LSA's Link
      State ID.  This provides the key for looking up the neighboring
      LSA in the link state database during the routing table
      calculation. See Section 12.2 for more details.










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       Type   Link ID
       ______________________________________
       1      Neighboring router's Router ID
       2      IP address of Designated Router
       3      IP network/subnet number
       4      Neighboring router's Router ID

   Link Data
      Value again depends on the link's Type field. For connections to
      stub networks, Link Data specifies the network's IP address
      mask. For unnumbered point-to-point connections, it specifies
      the interface's MIB-II [Ref8] ifIndex value. For the other link
      types it specifies the router interface's IP address. This
      latter piece of information is needed during the routing table
      build process, when calculating the IP address of the next hop.
      See Section 16.1.1 for more details.

   # TOS
      The number of different TOS metrics given for this link, not
      counting the required link metric (referred to as the TOS 0
      metric in [Ref9]).  For example, if no additional TOS metrics
      are given, this field is set to 0.

   metric
      The cost of using this router link.

   Additional TOS-specific information may also be included, for
   backward compatibility with previous versions of the OSPF
   specification ([Ref9]). Within each link, and for each desired TOS,
   TOS TOS-specific link information may be encoded as follows:

   TOS IP  Type of Service that this metric refers to. The encoding of
      TOS in OSPF LSAs is described in Section 12.3.

   TOS metric
      TOS-specific metric information.















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A.4.3 Network-LSAs

   Network-LSAs are the Type 2 LSAs.  A network-LSA is originated for
   each broadcast and NBMA network in the area which supports two or
   more routers.  The network-LSA is originated by the network's
   Designated Router. The LSA describes all routers attached to the
   network, including the Designated Router itself.  The LSA's Link
   State ID field lists the IP interface address of the Designated
   Router.

   The distance from the network to all attached routers is zero.  This
   is why metric fields need not be specified in the network-LSA.  For
   details concerning the construction of network-LSAs, see Section
   12.4.2.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |            LS age             |      Options  |      2        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Link State ID                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Advertising Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     LS sequence number                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         LS checksum           |             length            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                         Network Mask                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Attached Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |


   Network Mask
      The IP address mask for the network.  For example, a class A
      network would have the mask 0xff000000.

   Attached Router
      The Router IDs of each of the routers attached to the network.
      Actually, only those routers that are fully adjacent to the
      Designated Router are listed.  The Designated Router includes
      itself in this list.  The number of routers included can be
      deduced from the LSA header's length field.






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A.4.4 Summary-LSAs

   Summary-LSAs are the Type 3 and 4 LSAs.  These LSAs are originated by
   area border routers. Summary-LSAs describe inter-area destinations.
   For details concerning the construction of summary-LSAs, see Section
   12.4.3.

   Type 3 summary-LSAs are used when the destination is an IP network.
   In this case the LSA's Link State ID field is an IP network number
   (if necessary, the Link State ID can also have one or more of the
   network's "host" bits set; see Appendix E for details). When the
   destination is an AS boundary router, a Type 4 summary-LSA is used,
   and the Link State ID field is the AS boundary router's OSPF Router
   ID.  (To see why it is necessary to advertise the location of each
   ASBR, consult Section 16.4.)  Other than the difference in the Link
   State ID field, the format of Type 3 and 4 summary-LSAs is identical.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |            LS age             |     Options   |    3 or 4     |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Link State ID                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Advertising Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     LS sequence number                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         LS checksum           |             length            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                         Network Mask                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |      0        |                  metric                       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |     TOS       |                TOS  metric                    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |


   For stub areas, Type 3 summary-LSAs can also be used to describe a
   (per-area) default route.  Default summary routes are used in stub
   areas instead of flooding a complete set of external routes.  When
   describing a default summary route, the summary-LSA's Link State ID
   is always set to DefaultDestination (0.0.0.0) and the Network Mask is
   set to 0.0.0.0.






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   Network Mask
      For Type 3 summary-LSAs, this indicates the destination network's
      IP address mask.  For example, when advertising the location of a
      class A network the value 0xff000000 would be used.  This field is
      not meaningful and must be zero for Type 4 summary-LSAs.

   metric
      The cost of this route.  Expressed in the same units as the
      interface costs in the router-LSAs.

   Additional TOS-specific information may also be included, for
   backward compatibility with previous versions of the OSPF
   specification ([Ref9]). For each desired TOS, TOS-specific
   information is encoded as follows:

   TOS IP Type of Service that this metric refers to. The encoding of
      TOS in OSPF LSAs is described in Section 12.3.

   TOS metric
      TOS-specific metric information.































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A.4.5 AS-external-LSAs

   AS-external-LSAs are the Type 5 LSAs.  These LSAs are originated by
   AS boundary routers, and describe destinations external to the AS.
   For details concerning the construction of AS-external-LSAs, see
   Section 12.4.3.

   AS-external-LSAs usually describe a particular external destination.
   For these LSAs the Link State ID field specifies an IP network number
   (if necessary, the Link State ID can also have one or more of the
   network's "host" bits set; see Appendix E for details).  AS-
   external-LSAs are also used to describe a default route.  Default
   routes are used when no specific route exists to the destination.
   When describing a default route, the Link State ID is always set to
   DefaultDestination (0.0.0.0) and the Network Mask is set to 0.0.0.0.

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |            LS age             |     Options   |      5        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Link State ID                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Advertising Router                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     LS sequence number                        |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |         LS checksum           |             length            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                         Network Mask                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |E|     0       |                  metric                       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                      Forwarding address                       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                      External Route Tag                       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |E|    TOS      |                TOS  metric                    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                      Forwarding address                       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                      External Route Tag                       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                              ...                              |







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   Network Mask
      The IP address mask for the advertised destination.  For
      example, when advertising a class A network the mask 0xff000000
      would be used.

   bit E
      The type of external metric.  If bit E is set, the metric
      specified is a Type 2 external metric.  This means the metric is
      considered larger than any link state path.  If bit E is zero,
      the specified metric is a Type 1 external metric.  This means
      that it is expressed in the same units as the link state metric
      (i.e., the same units as interface cost).

   metric
      The cost of this route.  Interpretation depends on the external
      type indication (bit E above).

   Forwarding address
      Data traffic for the advertised destination will be forwarded to
      this address.  If the Forwarding address is set to 0.0.0.0, data
      traffic will be forwarded instead to the LSA's originator (i.e.,
      the responsible AS boundary router).

   External Route Tag
       A 32-bit field attached to each external route.  This is not
       used by the OSPF protocol itself.  It may be used to communicate
       information between AS boundary routers; the precise nature of
       such information is outside the scope of this specification.

   Additional TOS-specific information may also be included, for
   backward compatibility with previous versions of the OSPF
   specification ([Ref9]). For each desired TOS, TOS-specific
   information is encoded as follows:

   TOS The Type of Service that the following fields concern. The
      encoding of TOS in OSPF LSAs is described in Section 12.3.

   bit E
      For backward-compatibility with [Ref9].

   TOS metric
      TOS-specific metric information.

   Forwarding address
      For backward-compatibility with [Ref9].

   External Route Tag
      For backward-compatibility with [Ref9].



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B. Architectural Constants

   Several OSPF protocol parameters have fixed architectural values.
   These parameters have been referred to in the text by names such as
   LSRefreshTime.  The same naming convention is used for the
   configurable protocol parameters.  They are defined in Appendix C.

   The name of each architectural constant follows, together with its
   value and a short description of its function.

   LSRefreshTime
      The maximum time between distinct originations of any particular
      LSA.  If the LS age field of one of the router's self-originated
      LSAs reaches the value LSRefreshTime, a new instance of the LSA is
      originated, even though the contents of the LSA (apart from the
      LSA header) will be the same.  The value of LSRefreshTime is set
      to 30 minutes.

   MinLSInterval
      The minimum time between distinct originations of any particular
      LSA.  The value of MinLSInterval is set to 5 seconds.

   MinLSArrival
      For any particular LSA, the minimum time that must elapse
      between reception of new LSA instances during flooding. LSA
      instances received at higher frequencies are discarded. The value
      of MinLSArrival is set to 1 second.

   MaxAge
      The maximum age that an LSA can attain. When an LSA's LS age field
      reaches MaxAge, it is reflooded in an attempt to flush the LSA
      from the routing domain (See Section 14). LSAs of age MaxAge are
      not used in the routing table calculation.  The value of MaxAge is
      set to 1 hour.

   CheckAge
      When the age of an LSA in the link state database hits a multiple
      of CheckAge, the LSA's checksum is verified.  An incorrect
      checksum at this time indicates a serious error.  The value of
      CheckAge is set to 5 minutes.

   MaxAgeDiff
      The maximum time dispersion that can occur, as an LSA is flooded
      throughout the AS.  Most of this time is accounted for by the LSAs
      sitting on router output queues (and therefore not aging) during
      the flooding process.  The value of MaxAgeDiff is set to 15
      minutes.




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   LSInfinity
      The metric value indicating that the destination described by an
      LSA is unreachable. Used in summary-LSAs and AS-external-LSAs as
      an alternative to premature aging (see Section 14.1). It is
      defined to be the 24-bit binary value of all ones: 0xffffff.

   DefaultDestination
      The Destination ID that indicates the default route.  This route
      is used when no other matching routing table entry can be found.
      The default destination can only be advertised in AS-external-
      LSAs and in stub areas' type 3 summary-LSAs.  Its value is the IP
      address 0.0.0.0. Its associated Network Mask is also always
      0.0.0.0.

   InitialSequenceNumber
      The value used for LS Sequence Number when originating the first
      instance of any LSA. Its value is the signed 32-bit integer
      0x80000001.

   MaxSequenceNumber
      The maximum value that LS Sequence Number can attain.  Its value
      is the signed 32-bit integer 0x7fffffff.





























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C. Configurable Constants

   The OSPF protocol has quite a few configurable parameters. These
   parameters are listed below.  They are grouped into general
   functional categories (area parameters, interface parameters, etc.).
   Sample values are given for some of the parameters.

   Some parameter settings need to be consistent among groups of
   routers.  For example, all routers in an area must agree on that
   area's parameters, and all routers attached to a network must agree
   on that network's IP network number and mask.

   Some parameters may be determined by router algorithms outside of
   this specification (e.g., the address of a host connected to the
   router via a SLIP line).  From OSPF's point of view, these items are
   still configurable.

C.1 Global parameters

   In general, a separate copy of the OSPF protocol is run for each
   area.  Because of this, most configuration parameters are defined on
   a per-area basis.  The few global configuration parameters are listed
   below.

   Router ID
       This is a 32-bit number that uniquely identifies the router in
       the Autonomous System.  One algorithm for Router ID assignment is
       to choose the largest or smallest IP address assigned to the
       router.  If a router's OSPF Router ID is changed, the router's
       OSPF software should be restarted before the new Router ID takes
       effect. Before restarting in order to change its Router ID, the
       router should flush its self-originated LSAs from the routing
       domain (see Section 14.1), or they will persist for up to MaxAge
       minutes.

   RFC1583Compatibility
       Controls the preference rules used in Section 16.4 when choosing
       among multiple AS-external-LSAs advertising the same destination.
       When set to "enabled", the preference rules remain those
       specified by RFC 1583 ([Ref9]). When set to "disabled", the
       preference rules are those stated in Section 16.4.1, which
       prevent routing loops when AS- external-LSAs for the same
       destination have been originated from different areas (see
       Section G.7). Set to "enabled" by default.







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       In order to minimize the chance of routing loops, all OSPF
       routers in an OSPF routing domain should have
       RFC1583Compatibility set identically. When there are routers
       present that have not been updated with the functionality
       specified in Section 16.4.1 of this memo, all routers should have
       RFC1583Compatibility set to "enabled". Otherwise, all routers
       should have RFC1583Compatibility set to "disabled", preventing
       all routing loops.

C.2 Area parameters

   All routers belonging to an area must agree on that area's
   configuration.  Disagreements between two routers will lead to an
   inability for adjacencies to form between them, with a resulting
   hindrance to the flow of routing protocol and data traffic.  The
   following items must be configured for an area:

   Area ID
       This is a 32-bit number that identifies the area.  The Area ID of
       0.0.0.0 is reserved for the backbone.  If the area represents a
       subnetted network, the IP network number of the subnetted network
       may be used for the Area ID.

   List of address ranges
       An OSPF area is defined as a list of address ranges. Each address
       range consists of the following items:

       [IP address, mask]
           Describes the collection of IP addresses contained in the
           address range. Networks and hosts are assigned to an area
           depending on whether their addresses fall into one of the
           area's defining address ranges.  Routers are viewed as
           belonging to multiple areas, depending on their attached
           networks' area membership.

       Status  Set to either Advertise or DoNotAdvertise. Routing
           information is condensed at area boundaries.  External to the
           area, at most a single route is advertised (via a summary-
           LSA) for each address range. The route is advertised if and
           only if the address range's Status is set to Advertise.
           Unadvertised ranges allow the existence of certain networks
           to be intentionally hidden from other areas. Status is set to
           Advertise by default.








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           As an example, suppose an IP subnetted network is to be its
           own OSPF area.  The area would be configured as a single
           address range, whose IP address is the address of the
           subnetted network, and whose mask is the natural class A, B,
           or C address mask. A single route would be advertised
           external to the area, describing the entire subnetted
           network.

       ExternalRoutingCapability
           Whether AS-external-LSAs will be flooded into/throughout the
           area.  If AS-external-LSAs are excluded from the area, the
           area is called a "stub".  Internal to stub areas, routing to
           external destinations will be based solely on a default
           summary route.  The backbone cannot be configured as a stub
           area.  Also, virtual links cannot be configured through stub
           areas.  For more information, see Section 3.6.

       StubDefaultCost
           If the area has been configured as a stub area, and the
           router itself is an area border router, then the
           StubDefaultCost indicates the cost of the default summary-LSA
           that the router should advertise into the area.

C.3 Router interface parameters

   Some of the configurable router interface parameters (such as IP
   interface address and subnet mask) actually imply properties of the
   attached networks, and therefore must be consistent across all the
   routers attached to that network.  The parameters that must be
   configured for a router interface are:

   IP interface address
       The IP protocol address for this interface.  This uniquely
       identifies the router over the entire internet.  An IP address is
       not required on point-to-point networks.  Such a point-to-point
       network is called "unnumbered".

   IP interface mask
       Also referred to as the subnet/network mask, this indicates the
       portion of the IP interface address that identifies the attached
       network.  Masking the IP interface address with the IP interface
       mask yields the IP network number of the attached network.  On
       point-to-point networks and virtual links, the IP interface mask
       is not defined. On these networks, the link itself is not
       assigned an IP network number, and so the addresses of each side
       of the link are assigned independently, if they are assigned at
       all.




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   Area ID
       The OSPF area to which the attached network belongs.

   Interface output cost
       The cost of sending a packet on the interface, expressed in the
       link state metric.  This is advertised as the link cost for this
       interface in the router's router-LSA. The interface output cost
       must always be greater than 0.

   RxmtInterval
       The number of seconds between LSA retransmissions, for
       adjacencies belonging to this interface.  Also used when
       retransmitting Database Description and Link State Request
       Packets.  This should be well over the expected round-trip delay
       between any two routers on the attached network.  The setting of
       this value should be conservative or needless retransmissions
       will result.  Sample value for a local area network: 5 seconds.

   InfTransDelay
       The estimated number of seconds it takes to transmit a Link State
       Update Packet over this interface.  LSAs contained in the update
       packet must have their age incremented by this amount before
       transmission.  This value should take into account the
       transmission and propagation delays of the interface. It must be
       greater than 0.  Sample value for a local area network: 1 second.

   Router Priority
       An 8-bit unsigned integer. When two routers attached to a network
       both attempt to become Designated Router, the one with the
       highest Router Priority takes precedence. If there is still a
       tie, the router with the highest Router ID takes precedence.  A
       router whose Router Priority is set to 0 is ineligible to become
       Designated Router on the attached network.  Router Priority is
       only configured for interfaces to broadcast and NBMA networks.

   HelloInterval
       The length of time, in seconds, between the Hello Packets that
       the router sends on the interface.  This value is advertised in
       the router's Hello Packets.  It must be the same for all routers
       attached to a common network. The smaller the HelloInterval, the
       faster topological changes will be detected; however, more OSPF
       routing protocol traffic will ensue.  Sample value for a X.25 PDN
       network: 30 seconds.  Sample value for a local area network: 10
       seconds.







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   RouterDeadInterval
       After ceasing to hear a router's Hello Packets, the number of
       seconds before its neighbors declare the router down.  This is
       also advertised in the router's Hello Packets in their
       RouterDeadInterval field.  This should be some multiple of the
       HelloInterval (say 4).  This value again must be the same for all
       routers attached to a common network.

   AuType
       Identifies the authentication procedure to be used on the
       attached network.  This value must be the same for all routers
       attached to the network.  See Appendix D for a discussion of the
       defined authentication types.

   Authentication key
       This configured data allows the authentication procedure to
       verify OSPF protocol packets received over the interface.  For
       example, if the AuType indicates simple password, the
       Authentication key would be a clear 64-bit password.
       Authentication keys associated with the other OSPF authentication
       types are discussed in Appendix D.

C.4 Virtual link parameters

   Virtual links are used to restore/increase connectivity of the
   backbone.  Virtual links may be configured between any pair of area
   border routers having interfaces to a common (non-backbone) area.
   The virtual link appears as an unnumbered point-to-point link in the
   graph for the backbone.  The virtual link must be configured in both
   of the area border routers.

   A virtual link appears in router-LSAs (for the backbone) as if it
   were a separate router interface to the backbone.  As such, it has
   all of the parameters associated with a router interface (see Section
   C.3).  Although a virtual link acts like an unnumbered point-to-point
   link, it does have an associated IP interface address.  This address
   is used as the IP source in OSPF protocol packets it sends along the
   virtual link, and is set dynamically during the routing table build
   process.  Interface output cost is also set dynamically on virtual
   links to be the cost of the intra-area path between the two routers.
   The parameter RxmtInterval must be configured, and should be well
   over the expected round-trip delay between the two routers.  This may
   be hard to estimate for a virtual link; it is better to err on the
   side of making it too large.  Router Priority is not used on virtual
   links.






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   A virtual link is defined by the following two configurable
   parameters: the Router ID of the virtual link's other endpoint, and
   the (non-backbone) area through which the virtual link runs (referred
   to as the virtual link's Transit area).  Virtual links cannot be
   configured through stub areas.

C.5 NBMA network parameters

   OSPF treats an NBMA network much like it treats a broadcast network.
   Since there may be many routers attached to the network, a Designated
   Router is selected for the network.  This Designated Router then
   originates a network-LSA, which lists all routers attached to the
   NBMA network.

   However, due to the lack of broadcast capabilities, it may be
   necessary to use configuration parameters in the Designated Router
   selection.  These parameters will only need to be configured in those
   routers that are themselves eligible to become Designated Router
   (i.e., those router's whose Router Priority for the network is non-
   zero), and then only if no automatic procedure for discovering
   neighbors exists:

   List of all other attached routers
       The list of all other routers attached to the NBMA network.  Each
       router is listed by its IP interface address on the network.
       Also, for each router listed, that router's eligibility to become
       Designated Router must be defined.  When an interface to a NBMA
       network comes up, the router sends Hello Packets only to those
       neighbors eligible to become Designated Router, until the
       identity of the Designated Router is discovered.

   PollInterval
       If a neighboring router has become inactive (Hello Packets have
       not been seen for RouterDeadInterval seconds), it may still be
       necessary to send Hello Packets to the dead neighbor.  These
       Hello Packets will be sent at the reduced rate PollInterval,
       which should be much larger than HelloInterval.  Sample value for
       a PDN X.25 network: 2 minutes.

C.6 Point-to-MultiPoint network parameters

   On Point-to-MultiPoint networks, it may be necessary to configure the
   set of neighbors that are directly reachable over the Point-to-
   MultiPoint network. Each neighbor is identified by its IP address on
   the Point-to-MultiPoint network. Designated Routers are not elected
   on Point-to-MultiPoint networks, so the Designated Router eligibility
   of configured neighbors is undefined.




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   Alternatively, neighbors on Point-to-MultiPoint networks may be
   dynamically discovered by lower-level protocols such as Inverse ARP
   ([Ref14]).

C.7 Host route parameters

   Host routes are advertised in router-LSAs as stub networks with mask
   0xffffffff.  They indicate either router interfaces to point-to-point
   networks, looped router interfaces, or IP hosts that are directly
   connected to the router (e.g., via a SLIP line). For each host
   directly connected to the router, the following items must be
   configured:

   Host IP address
       The IP address of the host.

   Cost of link to host
       The cost of sending a packet to the host, in terms of the link
       state metric. However, since the host probably has only a single
       connection to the internet, the actual configured cost in many
       cases is unimportant (i.e., will have no effect on routing).

   Area ID
       The OSPF area to which the host belongs.



























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D. Authentication

   All OSPF protocol exchanges are authenticated.  The OSPF packet
   header (see Section A.3.1) includes an authentication type field, and
   64-bits of data for use by the appropriate authentication scheme
   (determined by the type field).

   The authentication type is configurable on a per-interface (or
   equivalently, on a per-network/subnet) basis.  Additional
   authentication data is also configurable on a per-interface basis.

   Authentication types 0, 1 and 2 are defined by this specification.
   All other authentication types are reserved for definition by the
   IANA (iana@ISI.EDU).  The current list of authentication types is
   described below in Table 20.

          AuType       Description
          ___________________________________________
          0            Null authentication
          1            Simple password
          2            Cryptographic authentication
          All others   Reserved for assignment by the
                       IANA (iana@ISI.EDU)


                  Table 20: OSPF authentication types.


D.1 Null authentication

   Use of this authentication type means that routing exchanges over the
   network/subnet are not authenticated. The 64-bit authentication field
   in the OSPF header can contain anything; it is not examined on packet
   reception. When employing Null authentication, the entire contents of
   each OSPF packet (other than the 64-bit authentication field) are
   checksummed in order to detect data corruption.

D.2 Simple password authentication

   Using this authentication type, a 64-bit field is configured on a
   per-network basis.  All packets sent on a particular network must
   have this configured value in their OSPF header 64-bit authentication
   field.  This essentially serves as a "clear" 64- bit password. In
   addition, the entire contents of each OSPF packet (other than the
   64-bit authentication field) are checksummed in order to detect data
   corruption.





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   Simple password authentication guards against routers inadvertently
   joining the routing domain; each router must first be configured with
   its attached networks' passwords before it can participate in
   routing.  However, simple password authentication is vulnerable to
   passive attacks currently widespread in the Internet (see [Ref16]).
   Anyone with physical access to the network can learn the password and
   compromise the security of the OSPF routing domain.

D.3 Cryptographic authentication

   Using this authentication type, a shared secret key is configured in
   all routers attached to a common network/subnet.  For each OSPF
   protocol packet, the key is used to generate/verify a "message
   digest" that is appended to the end of the OSPF packet. The message
   digest is a one-way function of the OSPF protocol packet and the
   secret key. Since the secret key is never sent over the network in
   the clear, protection is provided against passive attacks.

   The algorithms used to generate and verify the message digest are
   specified implicitly by the secret key. This specification completely
   defines the use of OSPF Cryptographic authentication when the MD5
   algorithm is used.

   In addition, a non-decreasing sequence number is included in each
   OSPF protocol packet to protect against replay attacks.  This
   provides long term protection; however, it is still possible to
   replay an OSPF packet until the sequence number changes. To implement
   this feature, each neighbor data structure

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |              0                |    Key ID     | Auth Data Len |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                 Cryptographic sequence number                 |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 18: Usage of the Authentication field
              in the OSPF packet header when Cryptographic
                       Authentication is employed

   contains a new field called the "cryptographic sequence number".
   This field is initialized to zero, and is also set to zero whenever
   the neighbor's state transitions to "Down". Whenever an OSPF packet
   is accepted as authentic, the cryptographic sequence number is set to
   the received packet's sequence number.





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   This specification does not provide a rollover procedure for the
   cryptographic sequence number. When the cryptographic sequence number
   that the router is sending hits the maximum value, the router should
   reset the cryptographic sequence number that it is sending back to 0.
   After this is done, the router's neighbors will reject the router's
   OSPF packets for a period of RouterDeadInterval, and then the router
   will be forced to reestablish all adjacencies over the interface.
   However, it is expected that many implementations will use "seconds
   since reboot" (or "seconds since 1960", etc.) as the cryptographic
   sequence number. Such a choice will essentially prevent rollover,
   since the cryptographic sequence number field is 32 bits in length.

   The OSPF Cryptographic authentication option does not provide
   confidentiality.

   When cryptographic authentication is used, the 64-bit Authentication
   field in the standard OSPF packet header is redefined as shown in
   Figure 18. The new field definitions are as follows:

   Key ID
       This field identifies the algorithm and secret key used to create
       the message digest appended to the OSPF packet. Key Identifiers
       are unique per-interface (or equivalently, per- subnet).

   Auth Data Len
       The length in bytes of the message digest appended to the OSPF
       packet.

   Cryptographic sequence number
       An unsigned 32-bit non-decreasing sequence number. Used to guard
       against replay attacks.

   The message digest appended to the OSPF packet is not actually
   considered part of the OSPF protocol packet: the message digest is
   not included in the OSPF header's packet length, although it is
   included in the packet's IP header length field.

   Each key is identified by the combination of interface and Key ID. An
   interface may have multiple keys active at any one time.  This
   enables smooth transition from one key to another. Each key has four
   time constants associated with it. These time constants can be
   expressed in terms of a time-of-day clock, or in terms of a router's
   local clock (e.g., number of seconds since last reboot):

   KeyStartAccept
       The time that the router will start accepting packets that
       have been created with the given key.




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   KeyStartGenerate
       The time that the router will start using the key for packet
       generation.

   KeyStopGenerate
       The time that the router will stop using the key for packet
       generation.

   KeyStopAccept
       The time that the router will stop accepting packets that
       have been created with the given key.

   In order to achieve smooth key transition, KeyStartAccept should be
   less than KeyStartGenerate and KeyStopGenerate should be less than
   KeyStopAccept. If KeyStopGenerate and KeyStopAccept are left
   unspecified, the key's lifetime is infinite. When a new key replaces
   an old, the KeyStartGenerate time for the new key must be less than
   or equal to the KeyStopGenerate time of the old key.

   Key storage should persist across a system restart, warm or cold, to
   avoid operational issues. In the event that the last key associated
   with an interface expires, it is unacceptable to revert to an
   unauthenticated condition, and not advisable to disrupt routing.
   Therefore, the router should send a "last authentication key
   expiration" notification to the network manager and treat the key as
   having an infinite lifetime until the lifetime is extended, the key
   is deleted by network management, or a new key is configured.

D.4 Message generation

   After building the contents of an OSPF packet, the authentication
   procedure indicated by the sending interface's Autype value is called
   before the packet is sent. The authentication procedure modifies the
   OSPF packet as follows.

D.4.1 Generating Null authentication

   When using Null authentication, the packet is modified as follows:

   (1) The Autype field in the standard OSPF header is set to
       0.










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   (2) The checksum field in the standard OSPF header is set to
       the standard IP checksum of the entire contents of the packet,
       starting with the OSPF packet header but excluding the 64-bit
       authentication field.  This checksum is calculated as the 16-bit
       one's complement of the one's complement sum of all the 16-bit
       words in the packet, excepting the authentication field.  If the
       packet's length is not an integral number of 16-bit words, the
       packet is padded with a byte of zero before checksumming.

D.4.2 Generating Simple password authentication

   When using Simple password authentication, the packet is modified as
   follows:

   (1) The Autype field in the standard OSPF header is set to 1.

   (2) The checksum field in the standard OSPF header is set to the
       standard IP checksum of the entire contents of the packet,
       starting with the OSPF packet header but excluding the 64-bit
       authentication field.  This checksum is calculated as the 16-bit
       one's complement of the one's complement sum of all the 16-bit
       words in the packet, excepting the authentication field.  If the
       packet's length is not an integral number of 16-bit words, the
       packet is padded with a byte of zero before checksumming.

   (3) The 64-bit authentication field in the OSPF packet header
       is set to the 64-bit password (i.e., authentication key) that has
       been configured for the interface.

D.4.3 Generating Cryptographic authentication

   When using Cryptographic authentication, there may be multiple keys
   configured for the interface. In this case, among the keys that are
   valid for message generation (i.e, that have KeyStartGenerate <=
   current time < KeyStopGenerate) choose the one with the most recent
   KeyStartGenerate time. Using this key, modify the packet as follows:

   (1) The Autype field in the standard OSPF header is set to
       2.

   (2) The checksum field in the standard OSPF header is not
       calculated, but is instead set to 0.

   (3) The Key ID (see Figure 18) is set to the chosen key's
       Key ID.






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   (4) The Auth Data Len field is set to the length in bytes of
       the message digest that will be appended to the OSPF packet. When
       using MD5 as the authentication algorithm, Auth Data Len will be
       16.

   (5) The 32-bit Cryptographic sequence number (see Figure 18)
       is set to a non-decreasing value (i.e., a value at least as large
       as the last value sent out the interface).  The precise values to
       use in the cryptographic sequence number field are
       implementation-specific.  For example, it may be based on a
       simple counter, or be based on the system's clock.

   (6) The message digest is then calculated and appended to
       the OSPF packet.  The authentication algorithm to be used in
       calculating the digest is indicated by the key itself.  Input to
       the authentication algorithm consists of the OSPF packet and the
       secret key. When using MD5 as the authentication algorithm, the
       message digest calculation proceeds as follows:

          (a) The 16 byte MD5 key is appended to the OSPF packet.

          (b) Trailing pad and length fields are added, as specified in
              [Ref17].

          (c) The MD5 authentication algorithm is run over the
              concatenation of the OSPF packet, secret key, pad and
              length fields, producing a 16 byte message digest (see
              [Ref17]).

          (d) The MD5 digest is written over the OSPF key (i.e.,
              appended to the original OSPF packet). The digest is not
              counted in the OSPF packet's length field, but is included
              in the packet's IP length field. Any trailing pad or
              length fields beyond the digest are not counted or
              transmitted.

D.5 Message verification

   When an OSPF packet has been received on an interface, it must be
   authenticated. The authentication procedure is indicated by the
   setting of Autype in the standard OSPF packet header, which matches
   the setting of Autype for the receiving OSPF interface.

   If an OSPF protocol packet is accepted as authentic, processing of
   the packet continues as specified in Section 8.2. Packets which fail
   authentication are discarded.





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D.5.1 Verifying Null authentication

   When using Null authentication, the checksum field in the OSPF header
   must be verified. It must be set to the 16-bit one's complement of
   the one's complement sum of all the 16-bit words in the packet,
   excepting the authentication field.  (If the packet's length is not
   an integral number of 16-bit words, the packet is padded with a byte
   of zero before checksumming.)

D.5.2 Verifying Simple password authentication

   When using Simple password authentication, the received OSPF packet
   is authenticated as follows:

       (1) The checksum field in the OSPF header must be verified.
           It must be set to the 16-bit one's complement of the
           one's complement sum of all the 16-bit words in the
           packet, excepting the authentication field.  (If the
           packet's length is not an integral number of 16-bit
           words, the packet is padded with a byte of zero before
           checksumming.)

       (2) The 64-bit authentication field in the OSPF packet
           header must be equal to the 64-bit password (i.e.,
           authentication key) that has been configured for the
           interface.

D.5.3 Verifying Cryptographic authentication

   When using Cryptographic authentication, the received OSPF packet is
   authenticated as follows:

       (1) Locate the receiving interface's configured key having
           Key ID equal to that specified in the received OSPF
           packet (see Figure 18). If the key is not found, or if
           the key is not valid for reception (i.e., current time <
           KeyStartAccept or current time >= KeyStopAccept), the
           OSPF packet is discarded.

       (2) If the cryptographic sequence number found in the OSPF
           header (see Figure 18) is less than the cryptographic
           sequence number recorded in the sending neighbor's data
           structure, the OSPF packet is discarded.

       (3) Verify the appended message digest in the following
           steps:

      (a) The received digest is set aside.



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      (b) A new digest is calculated, as specified in Step 6
          of Section D.4.3.

      (c) The calculated and received digests are compared. If
          they do not match, the OSPF packet is discarded. If
          they do match, the OSPF protocol packet is accepted
          as authentic, and the "cryptographic sequence
          number" in the neighbor's data structure is set to
          the sequence number found in the packet's OSPF
          header.









































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E. An algorithm for assigning Link State IDs

   The Link State ID in AS-external-LSAs and summary-LSAs is usually set
   to the described network's IP address. However, if necessary one or
   more of the network's host bits may be set in the Link State ID.
   This allows the router to originate separate LSAs for networks having
   the same address, yet different masks. Such networks can occur in the
   presence of supernetting and subnet 0s (see [Ref10]).

   This appendix gives one possible algorithm for setting the host bits
   in Link State IDs. The choice of such an algorithm is a local
   decision. Separate routers are free to use different algorithms,
   since the only LSAs affected are the ones that the router itself
   originates. The only requirement on the algorithms used is that the
   network's IP address should be used as the Link State ID whenever
   possible; this maximizes interoperability with OSPF implementations
   predating RFC 1583.

   The algorithm below is stated for AS-external-LSAs.  This is only for
   clarity; the exact same algorithm can be used for summary-LSAs.
   Suppose that the router wishes to originate an AS-external-LSA for a
   network having address NA and mask NM1. The following steps are then
   used to determine the LSA's Link State ID:

    (1) Determine whether the router is already originating an AS-
        external-LSA with Link State ID equal to NA (in such an LSA the
        router itself will be listed as the LSA's Advertising Router).
        If not, the Link State ID is set equal to NA and the algorithm
        terminates. Otherwise,

    (2) Obtain the network mask from the body of the already existing
        AS-external-LSA. Call this mask NM2. There are then two cases:

        o   NM1 is longer (i.e., more specific) than NM2. In this case,
            set the Link State ID in the new LSA to be the network
            [NA,NM1] with all the host bits set (i.e., equal to NA or'ed
            together with all the bits that are not set in NM1, which is
            network [NA,NM1]'s broadcast address).

        o   NM2 is longer than NM1. In this case, change the existing
            LSA (having Link State ID of NA) to reference the new
            network [NA,NM1] by incrementing the sequence number,
            changing the mask in the body to NM1 and inserting the cost
            of the new network. Then originate a new LSA for the old
            network [NA,NM2], with Link State ID equal to NA or'ed
            together with the bits that are not set in NM2 (i.e.,
            network [NA,NM2]'s broadcast address).




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   The above algorithm assumes that all masks are contiguous; this
   ensures that when two networks have the same address, one mask is
   more specific than the other. The algorithm also assumes that no
   network exists having an address equal to another network's broadcast
   address. Given these two assumptions, the above algorithm always
   produces unique Link State IDs. The above algorithm can also be
   reworded as follows: When originating an AS-external-LSA, try to use
   the network number as the Link State ID.  If that produces a
   conflict, examine the two networks in conflict. One will be a subset
   of the other. For the less specific network, use the network number
   as the Link State ID and for the more specific use the network's
   broadcast address instead (i.e., flip all the "host" bits to 1).  If
   the most specific network was originated first, this will cause you
   to originate two LSAs at once.

   As an example of the algorithm, consider its operation when the
   following sequence of events occurs in a single router (Router A).

    (1) Router A wants to originate an AS-external-LSA for
        [10.0.0.0,255.255.255.0]:

        (a) A Link State ID of 10.0.0.0 is used.

    (2) Router A then wants to originate an AS-external-LSA for
        [10.0.0.0,255.255.0.0]:

        (a) The LSA for [10.0.0,0,255.255.255.0] is reoriginated using a
            new Link State ID of 10.0.0.255.

        (b) A Link State ID of 10.0.0.0 is used for
            [10.0.0.0,255.255.0.0].

    (3) Router A then wants to originate an AS-external-LSA for
        [10.0.0.0,255.0.0.0]:

        (a) The LSA for [10.0.0.0,255.255.0.0] is reoriginated using a
            new Link State ID of 10.0.255.255.

        (b) A Link State ID of 10.0.0.0 is used for
            [10.0.0.0,255.0.0.0].

        (c) The network [10.0.0.0,255.255.255.0] keeps its Link State ID
            of 10.0.0.255.








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F. Multiple interfaces to the same network/subnet

   There are at least two ways to support multiple physical interfaces
   to the same IP subnet. Both methods will interoperate with
   implementations of RFC 1583 (and of course this memo). The two
   methods are sketched briefly below. An assumption has been made that
   each interface has been assigned a separate IP address (otherwise,
   support for multiple interfaces is more of a link-level or ARP issue
   than an OSPF issue).

   Method 1:
     Run the entire OSPF functionality over both interfaces, sending and
     receiving hellos, flooding, supporting separate interface and
     neighbor FSMs for each interface, etc. When doing this all other
     routers on the subnet will treat the two interfaces as separate
     neighbors, since neighbors are identified (on broadcast and NBMA
     networks) by their IP address.

     Method 1 has the following disadvantages:

     (1) You increase the total number of neighbors and adjacencies.

     (2) You lose the bidirectionality test on both interfaces, since
         bidirectionality is based on Router ID.

     (3) You have to consider both interfaces together during the
         Designated Router election, since if you declare both to be
         DR simultaneously you can confuse the tie-breaker (which is
         Router ID).

   Method 2:
     Run OSPF over only one interface (call it the primary interface),
     but include both the primary and secondary interfaces in your
     Router-LSA.

     Method 2 has the following disadvantages:

     (1) You lose the bidirectionality test on the secondary
         interface.

     (2) When the primary interface fails, you need to promote the
         secondary interface to primary status.









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G. Differences from RFC 1583

   This section documents the differences between this memo and RFC
   1583.  All differences are backward-compatible. Implementations of
   this memo and of RFC 1583 will interoperate.

G.1 Enhancements to OSPF authentication

   An additional OSPF authentication type has been added: the
   Cryptographic authentication type. This has been defined so that any
   arbitrary "Keyed Message Digest" algorithm can be used for packet
   authentication. Operation using the MD5 algorithm is completely
   specified (see Appendix D).

   A number of other changes were also made to OSPF packet
   authentication, affecting the following Sections:

   o   The authentication type is now specified per-interface,
       rather than per-area (Sections 6, 9, C.2 and C.3).

   o   The OSPF packet header checksum is now considered part of
       the authentication procedure, and so has been moved out of the
       packet send and receive logic (Sections 8.1 and 8.2) and into the
       description of authentication types (Appendix D).

   o   In Appendix D, sections detailing message generation and
       message verification have been added.

   o   For the OSPF Cryptographic authentication type, a discussion
       of key management, including the requirement for simultaneous
       support of multiple keys, key lifetimes and smooth key
       transition, has been added to Appendix D.

G.2 Addition of Point-to-MultiPoint interface

   This memo adds an additional method for running OSPF over non-
   broadcast networks: the Point-to-Multipoint network. To implement
   this addition, the language of RFC 1583 has been altered slightly.
   References to "multi-access" networks have been deleted. The term
   "non-broadcast networks" is now used to describe networks which can
   connect many routers, but which do not natively support
   broadcast/multicast (such as a public Frame relay network).  Over
   non-broadcast networks, there are two options for running OSPF:
   modelling them as "NBMA networks" or as "Point-to-MultiPoint
   networks".  NBMA networks require full mesh connectivity between
   routers; when employing NBMA networks in the presence of partial mesh
   connectivity, multiple NBMA networks must be configured, as described
   in [Ref15].  In contrast, Point-to-Multipoint networks have been



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   designed to work simply and naturally when faced with partial mesh
   connectivity.

   The addition of Point-to-MultiPoint networks has impacted the text in
   many places, which are briefly summarized below:

   o   Section 2 describing the OSPF link-state database has been
       split into additional subsections, with one of the subsections
       (Section 2.1.1) describing the differing map representations of
       the two non-broadcast network options.  This subsection also
       contrasts the NBMA network and Point- to-MultiPoint network
       options, and describes the situations when one is preferable to
       the other.

   o   In contrast to NBMA networks, Point-to-MultiPoint networks
       have the following properties. Adjacencies are established
       between all neighboring routers (Sections 4, 7.1, 7.5, 9.5 and
       10.4). There is no Designated Router or Backup Designated Router
       for a Point-to-MultiPoint network (Sections 7.3 and 7.4). No
       network-LSA is originated for Point-to-MultiPoint networks
       (Sections 12.4.2 and A.4.3).  Router Priority is not configured
       for Point-to-MultiPoint interfaces, nor for neighbors on Point-
       to-MultiPoint networks (Sections C.3 and C.6).

   o   The Interface FSM for a Point-to-MultiPoint interface is
       identical to that used for point-to-point interfaces. Two states
       are possible: "Down" and "Point-to-Point" (Section 9.3).

   o   When originating a router-LSA, and Point-to-MultiPoint
       interface is reported as a collection of "point-to-point links"
       to all of the interface's adjacent neighbors, together with a
       single stub link advertising the interface's IP address with a
       cost of 0 (Section 12.4.1.4).

   o   When flooding out a non-broadcast interface (when either in
       NBMA or Point-to-MultiPoint mode) the Link State Update or Link
       State Acknowledgment packet must be replicated in order to be
       sent to each of the interface's neighbors (see Sections 13.3 and
       13.5).

G.3 Support for overlapping area ranges

   RFC 1583 requires that all networks falling into a given area range
   actually belong to a single area. This memo relaxes that restriction.
   This is useful in the following example. Suppose that [10.0.0.0,
   255.0.0.0] is carved up into subnets. Most of these subnets are
   assigned to a single OSPF area (call it Area X), while a few subnets
   are assigned to other areas. In order to get this configuration to



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   work with RFC 1583, you must not summarize the subnets of Area X with
   the single range [10.0.0.0, 255.0.0.0], because then the subnets of
   10.0.0.0 belonging to other areas would become unreachable. However,
   with this memo you can summarize the subnets in Area X, provided that
   the subnets belonging to other areas are not summarized.

   Implementation details for this change can be found in Sections 11.1
   and 16.2.

G.4 A modification to the flooding algorithm

   The OSPF flooding algorithm has been modified as follows. When a Link
   State Update Packet is received that contains an LSA instance which
   is actually less recent than the the router's current database copy,
   the router will now in most cases respond by flooding back its
   database copy. This is in contrast to the RFC 1583 behavior, which
   was to simply throw the received LSA away.

   Detailed description of the change can be found in Step 8 of Section
   13.

   This change improves MaxAge processing. There are times when MaxAge
   LSAs stay in a router's database for extended intervals: 1) when they
   are stuck in a retransmission queue on a slow link or 2) when a
   router is not properly flushing them from its database, due to
   software bugs. The prolonged existence of these MaxAge LSAs can
   inhibit the flooding of new instances of the LSA. New instances
   typically start with LS sequence number equal to
   InitialSequenceNumber, and are treated as less recent (and hence were
   discarded according to RFC 1583) by routers still holding MaxAge
   instances. However, with the above change to flooding, a router
   holding a MaxAge instance will flood back the MaxAge instance. When
   this flood reaches the LSA's originator, it will then pick the next
   highest LS sequence number and reflood, overwriting the MaxAge
   instance.

G.5 Introduction of the MinLSArrival constant

   OSPF limits the frequency that new instances of any particular LSA
   can be accepted during flooding. This is extra protection, just in
   case a neighboring router is violating the mandated limit on LSA
   (re)originations (namely, one per LSA in any MinLSInterval).









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   In RFC 1583, the frequency at which new LSA instances were accepted
   was also set equal to once every MinLSInterval seconds.  However, in
   some circumstances this led to unwanted link state retransmissions,
   even when the LSA originator was obeying the MinLSInterval limit on
   originations. This was due to either 1) choice of clock granularity
   in some OSPF implementations or 2) differing clock speed in
   neighboring routers.

   To alleviate this problem, the frequency at which new LSA instances
   are accepted during flooding has now been increased to once every
   MinLSArrival seconds, whose value is set to 1.  This change is
   reflected in Steps 5a and 5d of Section 13, and in Appendix B.

G.6 Optionally advertising point-to-point links as subnets

   When describing a point-to-point interface in its router-LSA, a
   router may now advertise a stub link to the point-to-point network's
   subnet. This is specified as an alternative to the RFC 1583 behavior,
   which is to advertise a stub link to the neighbor's IP address. See
   Sections 12.4.1 and 12.4.1.1 for details.

G.7 Advertising same external route from multiple areas

   This document fixes routing loops which can occur in RFC 1583 when
   the same external destination is advertised by AS boundary routers in
   separate areas. There are two manifestations of this problem. The
   first, discovered by Dennis Ferguson, occurs when an aggregated
   forwarding address is in use. In this case, the desirability of the
   forwarding address can change for the worse as a packet crosses an
   area aggregation boundary on the way to the forwarding address, which
   in turn can cause the preference of AS-external-LSAs to change,
   resulting in a routing loop.

   The second manifestation was discovered by Richard Woundy. It is
   caused by an incomplete application of OSPF's preference of intra-
   area routes over inter-area routes: paths to any given
   ASBR/forwarding address are selected first based on intra-area
   preference, while the comparison between separate ASBRs/forwarding
   addresses is driven only by cost, ignoring intra-area preference. His
   example is replicated in Figure 19.  Both router A3 and router B3 are
   originating an AS-external-LSA for 10.0.0.0/8, with the same type 2
   metric. Router A1 selects B1 as its next hop towards 10.0.0.0/8,
   based on shorter cost to ASBR B3 (via B1->B2->B3). However, the
   shorter route to B3 is not available to B1, due to B1's preference
   for the (higher cost) intra-area route to B3 through Area A. This
   leads B1 to select A1 as its next hop to 10.0.0.0/8, resulting in a
   routing loop.




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   The following two changes have been made to prevent these routing
   loops:

   o   When originating a type 3 summary-LSA for a configured area
       address range, the cost of the summary-LSA is now set to the
       maximum cost of the range's component networks (instead of the
       previous algorithm which set the cost to the minimum component
       cost).  This change affects Sections 3.5 and 12.4.3, Figures 7
       and 8, and Tables 6 and 13.

   o   The preference rules for choosing among multiple AS-
       external-LSAs have been changed. Where previously cost was the
       only determining factor, now the preference is driven first by
       type of path (intra-area or inter-area, through non-backbone area
       or through backbone) to the ASBR/forwarding address, using cost
       only to break ties. This change affects Sections 16.4 and 16.4.1.

   After implementing this change, the example in Figure 19 is modified
   as follows. Router A1 now chooses A3 as the next

                              10.0.0.0/8
                              ----------
                                   |
                                +----+
                                | XX |
                                +----+
                   RIP          /    \        RIP
           ---------------------      --------------------
           !                                             !
           !                                             !
         +----+      +----+       1       +----+......+----+....
         | A3 |------| A1 |---------------| B1 |------| B3 |   .
         +----+   6  +----+               +----+  8   +----+   .
                                           1|  .         /     .
                       OSPF backbone        |  .        /      .
                                          +----+  2    /       .
                                          | B2 |-------  Area A.
                                          +----+................

                Figure 19: Example routing loop when the
            same external route is advertised from multiple
                                 areas

   hop to 10.0.0.0/8, while B1 chooses B3 as next hop. The reason for
   both choices is that ASBRs/forwarding addresses are now chosen based
   first on intra-area preference, and then by cost.





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   Unfortunately, this change is not backward compatible. While the
   change prevents routing loops when all routers run the new preference
   rules, it can actually create routing loops when some routers are
   running the new preference rules and other routers implement RFC
   1583.  For this reason, a new configuration parameter has been added:
   RFC1583Compatibility. Only when RFC1583Compatibility is set to
   "disabled" will the new preference rules take effect. See Appendix C
   for more details.

G.8 Retransmission of initial Database Description packets

   This memo allows retransmission of initial Database Description
   packets, without resetting the state of the adjacency. In some
   environments, retransmission of the initial Database Description
   packet may be unavoidable. For example, the link delay incurred by a
   satellite link may exceed the value configured for an interface's
   RxmtInterval. In RFC 1583 such an environment prevents a full
   adjacency from ever forming.

   In this memo, changes have been made in the reception of Database
   Description packets so that retransmitted initial Database
   Description packets are treated identically to any other
   retransmitted Database Description packets. See Section 10.6 for
   details.

G.9 Detecting interface MTU mismatches

   When two neighboring routers have a different interface MTU for their
   common network segment, serious problems can ensue: large packets are
   prevented from being successfully transferred from one router to the
   other, impairing OSPF's flooding algorithm and possibly creating
   "black holes" for user data traffic.

   This memo provides a fix for the interface MTU mismatch problem by
   advertising the interface MTU in Database Description packets. When a
   router receives a Database description packet advertising an MTU
   larger than the router can receive, the router drops the Database
   Description packet. This prevents an adjacency from forming, telling
   OSPF flooding and user data traffic to avoid the connection between
   the two routers. For more information, see Sections 10.6, 10.8, and
   A.3.3.

G.10 Deleting the TOS routing option

   The TOS routing option has been deleted from OSPF. This action was
   required by the Internet standards process ([Ref24]), due to lack of
   implementation experience with OSPF's TOS routing.  However, for
   backward compatibility the formats of OSPF's various LSAs remain



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   unchanged, maintaining the ability to specify TOS metrics in router-
   LSAs, summary-LSAs, ASBR-summary-LSAs, and AS-external-LSAs (see
   Sections 12.3, A.4.2, A.4.4, and A.4.5).

   To see OSPF's original TOS routing design, consult [Ref9].

Security Considerations

   All OSPF protocol exchanges are authenticated. OSPF supports multiple
   types of authentication; the type of authentication in use can be
   configured on a per network segment basis. One of OSPF's
   authentication types, namely the Cryptographic authentication option,
   is believed to be secure against passive attacks and provide
   significant protection against active attacks. When using the
   Cryptographic authentication option, each router appends a "message
   digest" to its transmitted OSPF packets. Receivers then use the
   shared secret key and received digest to verify that each received
   OSPF packet is authentic.

   The quality of the security provided by the Cryptographic
   authentication option depends completely on the strength of the
   message digest algorithm (MD5 is currently the only message digest
   algorithm specified), the strength of the key being used, and the
   correct implementation of the security mechanism in all communicating
   OSPF implementations. It also requires that all parties maintain the
   secrecy of the shared secret key.

   None of the OSPF authentication types provide confidentiality. Nor do
   they protect against traffic analysis. Key management is also not
   addressed by this memo.

   For more information, see Sections 8.1, 8.2, and Appendix D.



















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RFC 2178                     OSPF Version 2                    July 1997


Author's Address

   John Moy
   Cascade Communications Corp.
   5 Carlisle Road
   Westford, MA 01886

   Phone: 508-952-1367
   Fax:   508-692-9214
   Email: jmoy@casc.com









































Moy                         Standards Track                   [Page 211]

