Patent ID: 8477795

Claim:
A network element for use in a broadcast network that depends on the establishment of Label Switched Paths (LSPs) by a label distribution protocol (LDP) that is tied to Internet Protocol (IP) forwarding decisions of an interior gateway protocol (IGP), wherein the network element is adapted to assist in avoiding black-holing of traffic and sub-optimal traffic diversion caused by IGP converging prior to LDP converging, the network element comprising: a broadcast network interface adapted to carry transit traffic through an LSP when LDP is operational; an LDP module to exchange label bindings with each neighbor of the network element; and an IGP module coupled to the LDP module, wherein the IGP module, responsive to bringing up an IGP adjacency with a Designated Router (DR) of the broadcast network, is operative to: advertise a peer-to-peer (P2P) adjacency for the broadcast network interface to each member of the broadcast network that is in a state of bidirectional IGP communication with the network element in a Link State Advertisement (LSA) of the network element instead of advertising a pseudo-node adjacency for the broadcast network interface to a pseudo-node of the broadcast network in that LSA, wherein the P2P adjacency includes a high cost to discourage use of the broadcast network interface for transit traffic, wherein the pseudo-node represents the topology of the broadcast network, and wherein the pseudo-node adjacency represents the unidirectional link from the network element to the pseudo-node; and, advertise, after LDP becomes operational with all neighbors on the broadcast network interface, the pseudo-node adjacency for the broadcast network interface to the pseudo-node in its LSA instead of advertising the P2P adjacencies, thereby removing the discouragement of the use of the broadcast network interface for transit traffic, whereby transit traffic is avoided on the broadcast network interface until LDP is operational with all neighbors on the broadcast network interface.