OSPF

Open Shortest Path First

A link-state, hierarchical Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) routing algorithm proposed as a successor to Routing Information Protocol (RIP) in the Internet community. OSPF features include least-cost routing, multipath routing, and load balancing. OSPF was derived from an early version of the Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) protocol. See also Enhanced IGRP, IGP, IGRP, IS-IS, and RIP.