An OSPF AS-external LSA describes a route to an AS external network.

An OSPF AS-external LSA is used to describe routes to networks that are external to the OSPF Autonomous System (AS). This external route information is typically imported into OSPF by anAutonomous System Boundary Router (ASBR).

If theForwarding Addressfield in the AS-external LSA is set to 0.0.0.0, this indicates that traffic destined for the external network should be forwarded directly to the ASBR that advertised the external route.

The specific context mentioned here relates to theNot-So-Stubby Area (NSSA), a type of OSPF area designed to handle AS-external routes in a more controlled way. In NSSAs:

Type 7 LSAs are used to describe AS-external routes.

The ASBR within the NSSA converts the Type 7 LSA to a Type 5 LSA before advertising it to the backbone area.

Hence, the correct acronym for the described functionality isNSSA.