Patent ID: 8565098

Claim:
A method for maintaining an active Label Switching Path (LSP) upon temporarily switching to a standby LSP by utilizing Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) in a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, in which data traffic is transmitted based on MPLS forwarding entries, the MPLS forwarding entries are created on a control plane of a router in the MPLS network and delivered to a forwarding plane of the router; the method comprising: transmitting upstream data traffic over the active LSP based on MPLS forwarding entries of routers locating on the active LSP; upon detecting a fault of the active LSP, switching the upstream data traffic to the standby LSP; transmitting the upstream data traffic over the standby LSP based on MPLS forwarding entries of routers locating on the standby LSP; creating a BFD session on forwarding planes of the routers locating on the active LSP to detect a current state of the active LSP; after the fault of the active LSP is rectified, utilizing the BFD session for detecting that whether forwarding entries created on control planes of the routers locating on the active LSP are delivered completely to the forwarding planes of the routers locating on the active LSP; and if the forwarding entries created on the control planes of the routers locating on the active LSP are delivered completely to the forwarding planes of the routers locating on the active LSP, switching the upstream data traffic back to the active LSP.