OSPF creates a topology map by flooding link-state advertisements (LSAs) across OSPF-enabled links. LSAs announce the presence of OSPF-enabled interfaces to adjacent OSPF interfaces. The exchange of LSAs establishes bidirectional connectivity between all adjacent OSPF interfaces (neighbors) using a three-way handshake, as shown in Figure 53.
Figure 53: OSPF Three-Way Handshake
In Figure 53, Router A sends hello packets out all its OSPF-enabled interfaces when it comes online. Router B receives the packet, which establishes that Router B can receive traffic from Router A. Router B generates a response to Router A to acknowledge receipt of the hello packet. When Router A receives the response, it establishes that Router B can receive traffic from Router A. Router A then generates a final response packet to inform Router B that Router A can receive traffic from Router B. This three-way handshake ensures bidirectional connectivity.
As new neighbors are added to the network or existing neighbors lose connectivity, the adjacencies in the topology map are modified accordingly through the exchange (or absence) of LSAs. These LSAs advertise only the incremental changes in the network, which helps minimize the amount of OSPF traffic on the network. The adjacencies are shared and used to create the network topology in the topological database.