Patent ID: 7778199

Claim:
A method for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising the steps of: receiving, without intervention by a service provider, customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over a provider network of the service provider, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on the particular virtual private network; based on the customer input data, determining configuration data without intervention by the service provider for configuring a particular interface of a particular edge node among a plurality of interfaces that connect the plurality of customer equipment devices to a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network for the particular virtual private network, wherein the particular interface is configured to direct HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets; and causing the particular edge node to configure the particular interface based on the configuration data without intervention by the service provider, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network.