10.8. Sending Database Description Packets

This section describes how Database Description Packets are sent to a neighbor. The router's optional OSPF capabilities (see Section 4.5) are transmitted to the neighbor in the Options field of the Database Description packet. The router should maintain the same set of optional capabilities throughout the Database Exchange and flooding procedures. If for some reason the router's optional capabilities change, the Database Exchange procedure should be restarted by reverting to neighbor state ExStart. There are currently two optional capabilities defined. The T-bit should be set if and only if the router is capable of calculating separate routes for each IP TOS. The E-bit should be set if and only if the attached network belongs to a non-stub area. The rest of the Options field should be set to zero.

The sending of Database Description packets depends on the neighbor's state. In state ExStart the router sends empty Database Description packets, with the initialize (I), more (M) and master (MS) bits set. These packets are retransmitted every RxmtInterval seconds.

In state Exchange the Database Description Packets actually contain summaries of the link state information contained in the router's database. Each link state advertisement in the area's topological database (at the time the neighbor transitions into Exchange state) is listed in the neighbor Database summary list. When a new Database Description Packet is to be sent, the packet's DD sequence number is incremented, and the (new) top of the Database summary list is described by the packet. Items are removed from the Database summary list when the previous packet is acknowledged.

In state Exchange, the determination of when to send a Database Description packet depends on whether the router is master or slave:

Master

Database Description packets are sent when either a) the slave acknowledges the previous Database Description packet by echoing the DD sequence number or b) RxmtInterval seconds elapse without an acknowledgment, in which case the previous Database Description packet is retransmitted.

Slave

Database Description packets are sent only in response to Database Description packets received from the master. If the Database Description packet received from the master is new, a new Database Description packet is sent, otherwise the previous Database Description packet is resent.

In states Loading and Full the slave must resend its last Database Description packet in response to duplicate Database Description packets received from the master. For this reason the slave must wait RouterDeadInterval seconds before freeing the last Database Description packet. Reception of a Database Description packet from the master after this interval will generate a SeqNumberMismatch neighbor event.