Patent ID: 7729261
Filing Date: 2010-06-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of using policy routing in conjunction with restricted transit to forward network traffic in a communications network having a plurality of peer network nodes, the method comprising: receiving, in a network node, a nodal Information Group (IG) message generated by an advertising node to advertise a differentiated restricted transit status of the advertising node to the plurality of peer network nodes, wherein the nodal IG message comprises: a flag that indicates whether a restricted transit status is enabled or disabled for the advertising node, and an exception list that lists policy tags associated with predetermined categories of the network traffic that are permitted to transit the advertising node when the restricted transit status is enabled for the advertising node, wherein the exception list and the flag define the differentiated restricted transit status of the advertising node; receiving a policy-based path setup request for the network traffic; determining whether the policy-based path setup request involves at least one of the predetermined categories of the network traffic; generating paths for the network traffic that take into account the at least one of the predetermined categories of the network traffic and the differentiated restricted transit status of the advertising node; and wherein the differentiated restricted transit status permits SVC connections to traverse the advertising node but prohibits SPVC connections.