Patent ID: 9397913
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: switching, with a local router having a plurality of forwarding units interconnected by a switch fabric to implement a distributed data plane, layer two (L2) packet data units (PDUs) between the local router and a remote router using a virtual path, wherein the virtual path includes first and second links that operate as a single logical link to transmit the PDUs between the local router and the remote router, and wherein the first and second links are coupled to different, respective first and second forwarding units of the plurality of forwarding units; incrementing, by the first forwarding unit and in response to the first forwarding unit processing any PDU of the PDUs for the virtual path, a first counter, stored by the first forwarding unit and associated with the virtual path; incrementing, by the second forwarding unit and in response to the second forwarding unit processing any PDU of the PDUs for the virtual path, a second counter, stored by the second forwarding unit and associated with the virtual path; updating, by the first forwarding unit and based at least in part on a value of the first counter, a loss-measurement packet (LMP); internally forwarding, by the first forwarding unit via the switch fabric, the LMP to the second forwarding unit; updating, by the second forwarding unit and based at least in part on a value of the second counter, the LMP; and sending, with the local router, the LMP to the remote router.