Patent ID: 7263557

Claim:
A method to configure a network device, comprising: receiving a request at a DSL access module (DSLAM) to configure a permanent virtual circuit (PVC) between a digital subscriber line (DSL) device and said DSLAM, said DSL device having a virtual circuit (VC) table with multiple probe values, wherein said probe value represents a virtual circuit; and automatically configuring said PVC using a list of probe values from said VC table sent with test packets to probe for configuration information for said PVC, and using said configuration information to configure said PVC, wherein said probe values and said configuration information comprise a virtual channel identifier (VCI) and a virtual path identifier (VPI); wherein said automatically configuring comprises: sending test packets to said DSLAM using said probe values; receiving a response packet to one of said test packets; retrieving said configuration information from said response packet; configuring said PVC using said retrieved configuration information; and further disabling each virtual circuit that does not receive a response packet.