What is the difference between link-state and distance-vector protocols?

The distinction between link-state and distance-vector protocols lies fundamentally in how they manage and propagate routing information within a network.

Link-state protocols operate by maintaining a complete view of the network's topology. Each router using a link-state protocol discovers its neighbors and the state of their links, then shares this information with all other routers in the network. This results in each router having a comprehensive understanding of the entire network structure, allowing for more informed and efficient routing decisions. Such protocols create a data structure called a link-state database, which is used to compute the shortest path to each destination using algorithms like Dijkstra's.

In contrast, distance-vector protocols share routing information in the form of distance (the number of hops to reach a destination) and vector (the next hop on the path). Each router sends its routing table to its immediate neighbors, which in turn update their own tables based on the received information. This means that while each router knows about its immediate neighbors' distances, it does not have a full picture of the entire network topology.

This fundamental difference impacts various aspects of the protocols, including their speed, reliability, and bandwidth usage. While link-state protocols might require more bandwidth due to the periodic flooding of the link-state information, they provide a more reliable