D-Link xStack Reference Manual page 217

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xStack DGS-3620 Series Layer 3 Managed Stackable Gigabit Switch Web UI Reference Guide
Version No.
Each acknowledged link-state advertisement is described by its link-state advertisement header. It contains all the
information required to uniquely identify both the advertisement and the advertisement's current instance.
Link-State Advertisement Formats
There are five distinct types of link-state advertisements. Each link-state advertisement begins with a standard 20-
byte link-state advertisement header. Succeeding sections then diagram the separate link-state advertisement
types.
Each link-state advertisement describes a piece of the OSPF routing domain. Every router originates a router links
advertisement. In addition, whenever the router is elected as the Designated Router, it originates a network links
advertisement. Other types of link-state advertisements may also be originated. The flooding algorithm is reliable,
ensuring that all routers have the same collection of link-state advertisements. The collection of advertisements is
called the link-state (or topological) database.
From the link-state database, each router constructs a shortest path tree with itself as root. This yields a routing
table. There are four types of link state advertisements, each using a common link state header. These are:
Router Links Advertisements
Network Links Advertisements
Summary Link Advertisements
Autonomous System Link Advertisements
Link State Advertisement Header
All link state advertisements begin with a common 20-byte header. This header contains enough information to
uniquely identify the advertisements (Link State Type, Link State ID, and Advertising Router). Multiple instances of
the link state advertisement 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 link state age, link state sequence number
and link state checksum fields that are also contained in the link state advertisement header.
The format of the Link State Advertisement Header is shown below:
Link-State Acknowledgment Packet
5
Checksum
Link-State Advertisement Header ...
Figure 6-34 Link State Acknowledge Packet
Packet Length
Router ID
Area ID
Authentication Type
Authentication
Authentication
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