Short for Open Shortest
Path First, OSPF is an IP link-state networking routing
protocol that helps determine the
best or shortest path to the next hop in a network. OSPF was first
proposed in 1989 in
RFC 1131, OSPF version 2 was later
proposed in RFC 2178, and finally OSPF version 3 or OSPFv3 (used with
IPv6) was proposed in RFC 2740.
