Overview of OSPFv3

OSPF version 3 (OSPFv3) is a routing protocol based on link status. Compared with distance vector-based routing protocols, OSPFv3 delivers a higher convergence rate and supports larger networks.

Definition

OSPF is an interior gateway protocol developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on the basis of link status.

OSPFv2 (OSPF version 2) applies to IPv4, and OSPF version 3 to IPv6.

OSPFv3 is an OSPF routing protocol running on IPv6 (see RFC 2740).
OSPFv3 is the enhanced version of OSPFv2 and is an independent routing protocol.

Objective

OSPFv3 is a routing protocol independent of all specific network layers. To achieve the goal, OSPFv3 router information is re-designed.

The differences between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 are as follows:

OSPFv3 does not insert IP address-based data in packet headers in data packets and link-state advertisements (LSAs).
OSPFv3 utilizes information independent of network protocols to carry out key tasks that originally require the header data of an IP packet. The tasks include identifying and advertising LSAs that contain routing data.