What is one of the purposes of OSPF Link State Updates (LSUs)?

One of the key purposes of OSPF Link State Updates (LSUs) is to maintain link-state database consistency among all the routers within the OSPF area. When an OSPF router changes its link state due to changes in the network topology—such as a link going up or down—it generates an LSU to inform its neighbors of this change.

When routers receive these LSUs, they update their own link-state databases accordingly and propagate the updated information to other routers. This ensures that all routers within the OSPF area have the same view of the network topology, allowing them to correctly calculate the shortest path to each destination based on the latest link-state information. Maintaining this consistency is crucial for the accurate functioning of OSPF as a routing protocol, as routers need a synchronized understanding of the network structure to make the best routing decisions.

In contrast, while establishing neighbor relationships and advertising new routes are part of the broader OSPF functionality, they are not the primary function of LSUs. Neighbor relationships are established initially through hello packets, and new routes are typically learned through other mechanisms like OSPF route propagation and updates. Discovering new subnets may be part of router operations, but it does not specifically relate to LSUs