Patent ID: 7370119
Filing Date: 2008-05-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a router, a method for handling a failure, said method comprising: detecting said failure; in response to said failure modifying forwarding data structure entries storing information pertaining to a first output adjacency affected by said failure; and thereafter based on said modification, forwarding protected traffic previously handled by said first output adjacency via a backup tunnel employing a second output adjacency; and wherein a time required for said modification is independent of a number of protected tunnels employing said first output adjacency and independent of a number of protected forwarding equivalence classes employing said first output adjacency; wherein said router employs a distributed forwarding architecture wherein forwarding processing is divided between an ingress linecard and an egress linecard and modifying forwarding data structure entries further comprises: on each linecard of said router, modifying a forwarding data structure entry that previously specified said first output adjacency to now specify said second output adjacency and a linecard hosting said second output adjacency.