Overview of OSPFv3
Definition
The Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol, developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is an interior gateway protocol based on the link status.
At present, OSPF Version 2 is used for IPv4 and OSPF Version 3 is used for IPv6.
OSPFv3 is short for OSPF Version 3.
As defined in RFC 5340 (the same as RFC 2740), OSPFv3 is a routing protocol over IPv6.
OSPFv3 is an independent routing protocol whose functions are modified on the basis of OSPFv2.
Purpose
The primary purpose of OSPFv3 is to develop a routing protocol independent of any specific network layer. The internal routing information of OSPFv3 is redesigned to serve this purpose.
The differences between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 are as follows:
OSPFv3 does not insert IP-based data in the header of the packet and Link State Advertisement (LSA).
OSPFv3 executes some crucial tasks that originally require the data in the IP packet header by making use of the information independent of any network protocol. For example, OSPFv3 can identify the LSA that advertises the routing data.
