Patent ID: 8750095

Claim:
An edge router comprising: one or more communication interfaces; one or more memory devices containing one or more instructions for execution by one or more processing devices; and the processing devices, operable when executing the instructions to: determine a plurality of prefixes reachable by the edge router, each prefix indicating a range of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses; determine one or more repair edge routers for the plurality of prefixes, each repair edge router being another edge router that is also able to reach one or more of the plurality of prefixes; group the plurality of prefixes into one or more groups, wherein: each group is associated with a particular repair edge router; and the prefixes in each particular group are reachable by both the edge router and the particular repair edge router associated with the particular group; communicate instructions, by the edge router to a core router, to send data packets associated with the prefixes in each particular group to the particular edge router associated with the particular group if the edge router becomes unreachable, the communicating comprising: advertising, by the edge router to the core router, a primary next-hop for the one or more prefixes in each particular group; and advertising, by the edge router to the core router, a repair next-hop for the one or more prefixes in each particular group, the repair next-hop identifying a next-hop advertised by the particular repair edge router associated with the particular group.