A parallel router comprising: 1) a plurality of routing nodes, each of the plurality of routing nodes capable of receiving message packets from and transmitting message packets to external devices, wherein each of the routing nodes maintains a routing table suitable for routing message packets from transmitting ones of the plurality of routing nodes to receiving ones of the plurality of routing nodes; and 2) a switch fabric capable of transmitting the messages packets between the transmitting nodes and the receiving nodes, wherein a designated one of the plurality of routing nodes is operable to receive from non-designated ones of the plurality of routing nodes link state advertisement (LSA) message packets containing link state information, wherein the designated routing node aggregates the LSA message packets to thereby form a link-state database. |