Editing Link-state routing protocol (section)

==Failure modes==
If all the nodes are not working from exactly the same map, ''routing loops'' can form. These are situations in which, in the simplest form, two neighboring nodes each think the other is the best path to a given destination. Any packet headed to that destination arriving at either node will loop between the two, hence the name. Routing loops involving more than two nodes are also possible.

This can occur since each node computes its shortest-path tree and its routing table without interacting in any way with any other nodes. If two nodes start with different maps, it is possible to have scenarios in which routing loops are created. In certain circumstances, differential loops may be enabled within a multi-cloud environment. Variable access nodes across the interface protocol may also bypass the simultaneous access node problem.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wójcik |first1=R |title=A survey on methods to provide interdomain multipath transmissions |journal=Computer Networks |date=2016 |volume=108|pages=233–259 |doi=10.1016/j.comnet.2016.08.028 }}</ref>