Patent ID: 7764596

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a plurality of nodes with resources, wherein said nodes with resources are comprised in an optical network and have a resource necessary to support a virtual path, wherein said identifying said plurality of nodes with resources comprises in response to detecting a failure in said virtual path, forwarding a resource request to an adjacent node, waiting for a predefined time for a response to said resource request, if said response to said resource request is not received within said predefined time, initiating a subsequent failure measure, wherein said initiating a subsequent failure measure comprises generating a network alarm, and receiving, from a candidate node, information indicating that said candidate node has sufficient resources available to support said virtual path, wherein said candidate node is configured to determine whether said candidate node has sufficient resources available to support said virtual path; and identifying, based at least in part on said identifying said plurality of nodes with resources, an alternate physical path, said alternate physical path comprising ones of said nodes with resources.