Abstract: Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol is widely deployed in IP networks to manage intra-domain routing. An OSPF is a link-state protocol, in which routers establish relationships developing neighbors, enabling each to build a consistent, global view of the routing topology. This paper is based on overview of OSPF comprising different types of routes, routers, networks, areas, and protocols/processes used in OSPF. We used OPNET IT Guru Academic Edition 9.1 network simulator for six different network scenarios to calculate the shortest path from source to destination router. The simulation developed with different parameters and is configured based on OSPF area and link failure using traffic sent in bits/seconds as performance metric. Finally, the research experiment results showed that balance area OSPF is performed better in finding the shortest path in traffic sent after a link fails.