Patent ID: 8144575

Claim:
A method comprising: generating, by a provider edge device, pseudo-wire tables based on virtual private local area network service (VPLS) advertisements received from other provider edge devices, where the provider edge device services customer edge devices; establishing, by the provider edge device, pseudo-wires with respect to the other provider edge devices, based on the pseudo-wire tables, where the pseudo-wires include an active pseudo-wire and at least one standby pseudo-wire with respect to each of the other provider edge devices, in correspondence to the customer edge devices that the provider edge device services; generating, by the provider edge device, a VPLS advertisement advertising, by the provider edge device, the generated VPLS advertisement to the other provider edge devices; detecting, by the provider edge device, a communication link failure associated with one of the customer edge devices; determining, by the provider edge device, whether the at least one standby pseudo-wire needs to be utilized because of the communication link failure; determining whether an identification value, associated with the one of the customer edge devices, maps to a value that corresponds to the active pseudo-wire and is associated with one of the pseudo wire tables, which is associated with one of the other provider edge devices; determining to utilize the at least one standby pseudo-wire when the identification value, associated with the one of the customer edge devices, maps to the value that corresponds to the active pseudo-wire; and utilizing, by the provider edge device, the at least one standby pseudo-wire when the standby pseudo-wire is to be utilized.