Patent ID: 8891553

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving from a label distribution peer, a prefix/FEC (Forwarding Equivalence Class) to label mapping at a network device; processing said prefix/FEC to label mapping at the network device to implement selective label retention on a per neighbor basis if the label distribution peer is a next hop for said prefix/FEC, wherein processing comprises: determining if a next hop interface of said prefix/FEC is in a same IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol) or IS-IS (Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System) area as a link between the network device and the label distribution peer; and retaining said prefix/FEC to label mapping if said next hop interface of said prefix/FEC is in the same area as the link between the network device and the label distribution peer; discarding said prefix/FEC to label mapping if said next hop interface of said prefix/FEC is not in the same area as the link between the network device and the label distribution peer.