Patent ID: 7860116

Claim:
A packet switch operating method comprising: a packet switch assigning a packet to a virtual interface, the virtual interface being associated with a plurality of tunnels, one of the plurality being designated a primary tunnel configured to accept packets and another tunnel of the plurality being designated as a backup tunnel configured to reject packets; the packet switch determining which of the plurality of tunnels is the primary tunnel by consulting a mapping between the virtual interface and a tunnel index associated with the primary tunnel, the tunnel index being one of a plurality of tunnel indices, each of which is associated with one of the tunnels of the plurality; the packet switch determining a packet switch port associated with the primary tunnel by consulting a mapping between the tunnel index associated with the primary tunnel, one of a plurality of packet switch ports, and one of a plurality of transport identifier indices; and the packet switch egressing the packet via the primary tunnel on the packet switch port associated with the primary tunnel.