Patent ID: 8553533

Claim:
A method comprising: specifying a physical interface at a first provider edge (PE) node in a network; specifying a first control path from the first PE node to a second PE node in the network; specifying a second control path from the first PE node to a third PE node in the network; specifying a plurality of redundant combinations of pseudowires (PWs), wherein each redundant combination includes a primary pseudowire that is configured as a virtual circuit between the physical interface of the first PE node and the second PE node and a backup pseudowire that is configured as a virtual circuit between the physical interface of the first PE node and the third PE node; grouping the pseudowires into a primary PW group that includes the primary pseudowires and a backup PW group that includes the backup pseudowires; and using group identifiers for the PW groups to assign an active status to the primary pseudowires and a standby status to the backup pseudowires, wherein the active status enables data transfers along corresponding PW data paths and the standby status disables data transfers along corresponding PW data paths.