A link-state routing protocol for TCP/IP networks.
From RFC 2328, which defines the current version of the protocol:
It is designed to be run internal to a single Autonomous System. Each OSPF router maintains an identical database describing the Autonomous System's topology. From this database, a routing table is calculated by constructing a shortest-path tree.
OSPF routes IP packets based solely on the destination IP address found in the IP packet header. IP packets are routed "as is" -- they are not encapsulated in any further protocol headers as they transit the Autonomous System. OSPF is a dynamic routing protocol. It quickly detects topological changes in the AS (such as router interface failures) and calculates new loop-free routes after a period of convergence. This period of convergence is short and involves a minimum of routing traffic.
Additional resources
Unicast IP routing
Microsoft overview of OSPF and related protocols.
