Patent ID: 8199637

Claim:
A method for handling a communication failure in a network, comprising: provisioning different first and second instances of a multipoint-to-multipoint (MP-MP) communication service over respective first and second alternative sets of links that connect a plurality of endpoints in the network, each of the sets traversing a plurality of network nodes, which provide physical layer resources for operating the links; providing the communication service to the endpoints over the first set of links using the first instance; upon detecting a failure in the first set of links by a detecting node of the plurality of network nodes: propagating failure information by the detecting node to each node of the other nodes of the plurality of network nodes traversed by the first set of links; for each node of the other nodes of the plurality of network nodes traversed by the first set of links: receiving the failure information; and deactivating a physical layer of the first set of links connected thereto, thereby causing a loss of connectivity in the first set of links; and responsively to sensing the loss of connectivity, resuming the communication service over the second instance by automatically transferring communication among the endpoints to the second set of links.