A network administrator is reviewing how a link-state routing protocol like OSPF establishes network topology visibility and calculates paths. Place the operational steps of a link-state routing protocol in the correct chronological sequence, starting from initial neighbor discovery to final IP routing table entry installation.
- 1Routers exchange Hello packets to discover neighboring routers and establish neighbor adjacencies on directly connected links.
- 2Each router generates Link-State Advertisements (LSAs) detailing the status, IP prefixes, and link costs of its attached interfaces.
- 3Routers flood LSAs across the area to assemble an identical Link-State Database (LSDB) on every router.
- 4Each router independently runs the Dijkstra Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm against the synchronized LSDB.
- 5The router installs the optimal calculated paths into its active IP routing table.
Answer
The correct operational sequence begins with discovering neighbors via Hello packets, creating Link-State Advertisements (LSAs), flooding LSAs to build a synchronized Link-State Database (LSDB), executing the Dijkstra Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm, and finally populating the IP routing table with the best paths.
Link-state dynamic routing protocols follow a strictly defined sequence of operations to achieve convergence. The process begins with neighbor discovery using Hello packets. Once adjacencies are established, routers generate Link-State Advertisements (LSAs) detailing their local interfaces and costs. These LSAs are flooded throughout the network area until every router holds an identical Link-State Database (LSDB). Each router then independently runs the Dijkstra Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm on the LSDB to compute the shortest paths to all known destinations. Finally, the calculated best routes are populated into the router's IP routing table for forwarding operations.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Link-State Routing Protocol Convergence Sequence