To maintain routing information, OSPF routers complete a generic link-state routing process to reach a state of convergence. The figure shows a five router topology. Each link between routers is labeled with a cost value. In OSPF, cost is used to determine the best path to the destination. The following are the link-state routing steps that are completed by a router:
- Establish Neighbor Adjacencies
- Exchange Link-State Advertisements
- Build the Link State Database
- Execute the SPF Algorithm
- Choose the Best Route
