Comparative Analysis of Link State Routing Protocols OPSF and IS-IS

IP Routing is used to find the best path for an IP packet from source to destination. Major routing protocols used for interior gateway routing are link state routing protocols, as they are more scalable than their counterparts Distance Vector Routing Protocols. Link State routing protocols has two protocols listed in its category and both of them uses the same Dijkstra's Shortest Path First Algorithm, and both came to existence at about same time. But which protocol is best between the two always creates confusion in the network engineer’s minds all around the world. This paper explains the two link state routing protocols used for internal routing purposes in enterprise or service provider networks. Link state routing protocols use the same algorithm but have so many differences. This paper compares both the link state routing protocols on the basis of performance, security and scalability.