Which of the following about a router running a link state routing protocol is FALSE?

A router that operates using a link state routing protocol indeed has specific characteristics that help in the efficient calculation of routing paths. One of the critical attributes of link state protocols, such as OSPF or IS-IS, is that they do not send copies of the entire routing table to neighbor routers. Instead, they share information about the state of their directly connected links to update the network topology effectively.

The router builds a complete topology map of the network by collecting link state advertisements (LSAs) from all other routers. This allows it to use the Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm, which computes the most efficient routing paths based on this comprehensive view of the network. The SPF algorithm is efficient because it only requires knowledge of the state of the immediate connections rather than the entire routing table.

In addition, link state protocols react to changes in the network topology—such as the addition or failure of links—by sending updates triggered by these changes. This differs from distance vector protocols, where periodic full table updates are sent regardless of network changes.

Therefore, while the router maintains a complete view of the network and uses an SPF algorithm, it does not distribute its entire routing table to neighbors. This mechanism significantly reduces the amount of information transmitted and improves