Patent ID: 8830867

Claim:
A method, performed by a transmitter network element utilizing a link state routing protocol which has a maximum link state message size, of providing information to avoid a disruption in data forwarding that would result from a receiver network element performing preferred route computations based on an incomplete set of link state messages, the method comprising the steps of: generating a complete set of link state messages having information indicating that the link state messages are the complete set of the link state messages, wherein the complete set of the link state messages are collectively coherent with a link state of the transmitter network element, wherein the information indicating that the link state messages are the complete set of the link state messages is included in complete set type-length-value (CS-TLV) elements that do not have link state information; and transmitting the complete set of the link state messages and the information indicating that the link state messages are the complete set of the link state messages to a network.