Patent ID: 9667538
Date: 2017-05-30
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method in a gateway router, comprising: receiving traffic with a destination of a virtual Internet protocol (VIP) address corresponding to a scalable VIP appliance; selecting a point-to-point VIP tunnel associated with the VIP address, wherein the point-to-point VIP tunnel encapsulates a point-to-point link between the gateway router and the scalable VIP appliance; separating one or more packets within the traffic; classifying each of the one or more separated packets based on one or more indicators of the one or more separated packets; forwarding each of the one or more separated packets to one of one or more Internet Protocol (IP) tunnels based on the classification of each of the one or more separated packets, wherein the one or more IP tunnels are connected to the scalable VIP appliance, and wherein the one or more IP tunnels comprise a forwarding tunnel group associated with the point-to-point VIP tunnel; sending a message to the scalable VIP appliance indicating that one of the one or more IP tunnels has failed; and receiving another message from the scalable VIP appliance indicating that a packet classification should be associated with a different one of the one or more IP tunnels.