Patent ID: 8665710

Claim:
A system that enables network communications over a circuit that is identified by a circuit identifier (ID), comprising: a first node included in the circuit that communicates communications packets from a source node to a destination node, wherein the first node accesses information from a first circuit table stored at the first node that identifies the circuit by the circuit ID and that includes a 4-tuple that has an identifier of the source node, an identifier of the destination node, an identifier of a source service, and an identifier of a destination service, wherein the first node accesses information from a first leg table stored at the first node that identifies first legs which respectively connect the first node to one of a plurality of first adjacent nodes, and wherein the first leg table identifies each of the first legs using triples that have at least a link ID, a local leg ID, and a direction that defines a travel direction of communications packets for each of the first legs, and wherein a first triple of the first leg table is associated with the circuit ID when the first leg is a portion of the circuit, a second node adjacent to the first node and included in the circuit, wherein the second node accesses information from a second circuit table stored at the second node that identifies the circuit by the circuit ID and that includes a 4-tuple that has the identifier of the source node, the identifier of the destination node, the identifier of the source service, and the identifier of the destination service, wherein the second node accesses information from a second leg table stored at the second node that identifies second legs which respectively connect the second node to one of a plurality of second adjacent nodes, and wherein the second leg table identifies each of the second legs using a triple that has at least a link ID, a local leg ID, and a direction that defines a travel direction of communications packets for each of the second legs, and wherein a second triple of the second leg table is associated with the circuit ID when the second leg is a portion of the circuit; and a circuit link between the first node and the second node, wherein the circuit link is identified as the first leg based upon the first triple when a communications packet with the circuit ID is communicated over the first node to the second node.