OSPFD(8)                OpenBSD System Manager's Manual               OSPFD(8)

NAME
     ospfd - Open Shortest Path First daemon

SYNOPSIS
     ospfd [-dnv] [-D macro=value] [-f file] [-s socket]

DESCRIPTION
     ospfd is an Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) daemon which manages routing
     tables.  This implementation supports OSPF version 2, thus it is only ca-
     pable of maintaining IPv4 routing tables.

     OSPF is an interior gateway protocol designed to supersede RIP.  It has
     several advantages over RIP.  For instance, every router has an under-
     standing of the complete network topology.  Response to changes in the
     network is faster.  Furthermore, failure detection is improved.

     The OSPF daemon maintains a Link State Database (LSDB) containing infor-
     mation about routers and networks within an Autonomous System (AS).

     Dijkstra's shortest path first algorithm is used to compute a Routing In-
     formation Base (RIB) using the LSDB as input.  The Forwarding Information
     Base (FIB), a.k.a. the kernel routing table, is updated with information
     from the RIB.

     OSPF routers discover one another automatically via OSPF hello packets.
     OSPF routers communicate via two multicast groups: 224.0.0.5 (all Short-
     est Path First routers) and 224.0.0.6 (all Designated Routers).  OSPF
     runs directly on top of IP and uses neither TCP nor UDP.  IP protocol
     number 89 is reserved for OSPF.

     All routers in an OSPF network spend most of their time keeping each oth-
     ers' LSDBs in sync.  All routers must have the same information in the
     LSDB at all times.  Every time the LSDB is updated the RIB is updated; if
     needed the FIB is also updated.

     In a multi-access network such as Ethernet, it is unfeasible for all
     routers to synchronize their LSDB with all other routers in the network.
     In such networks a Designated Router (DR) and a Backup Designated Router
     (BDR) are elected.  The DR's responsibility is to synchronize with all
     routers; the BDR will not do much until the DR fails.  The first router
     in a network is automatically elected DR, the second router BDR.  All
     routers have a FULL adjacency with the DR and the BDR.  Routers with FULL
     adjacency exchange information about their LSDBs.  A router not elected
     either DR or BDR will have 2-WAY adjacency with all routers but the DR
     and BDR.  Routers with 2-WAY adjacency recognize that they know each oth-
     er, but do not exchange information about their LSDBs.  If a DR or BDR
     fails another router is elected DR or BDR and all routers form FULL adja-
     cencies with the newly elected DR or BDR.

     When routers are connected via point-to-point links, DR and BDR election
     is skipped since only two routers are connected to the link.

     To limit the impact changes in the network have on the LSDB it is possi-
     ble to segment an OSPF network into areas.  Area 0.0.0.0 (a.k.a. the
     backbone area) must always be present.  Routers can be configured as Area
     Border Router (ABR), being part of multiple areas.  Every area must have
     direct access to the backbone area.  ABRs not directly connected to the
     backbone area need to establish a virtual link to a router in the back-
     bone area.

     AS Border Routers (ASBR) are connected to an OSPF network and other ex-
     ternal networks via BGP, RIP, or static routing, and provide connectivity
     to networks outside the AS.

     ospfd is usually started at boot time, and can be enabled by setting the
     following in /etc/rc.conf.local:

           ospfd_flags=""

     See rc(8) and rc.conf(8) for more information on the boot process and en-
     abling daemons.

     A running ospfd can be controlled with the ospfctl(8) utility.

     The options are as follows:

     -D macro=value
             Define macro to be set to value on the command line.  Overrides
             the definition of macro in the configuration file.

     -d      Do not daemonize.  If this option is specified, ospfd will run in
             the foreground and log to stderr.

     -f file
             Specify an alternative configuration file.

     -n      Configtest mode.  Only check the configuration file for validity.

     -s socket
             Use an alternate location for the default control socket.

     -v      Produce more verbose output.

FILES
     /etc/ospfd.conf        Default ospfd configuration file.
     /var/run/ospfd.sock    UNIX-domain socket used for communication with
                            ospfctl(8).

SEE ALSO
     ospfd.conf(5), ospfctl(8)

     OSPF Version 2, RFC 2328, April 1998.

     OSPF Stub Router Advertisement, RFC 3137, June 2001.

HISTORY
     The ospfd program first appeared in OpenBSD 3.7.

BUGS
     Virtual links are currently not available in ospfd.

OpenBSD 4.7                      March 6, 2010                               2
