Patent ID: 7818283

Claim:
A method based on codified rules for automatically isolating failures in segments of a virtual private network (VPN) access path comprising: receiving an indication of a failure in a rules based process automation (RBPA) program that is separate from the VPN access path; determining, based on codified rules associated with the RBPA program, equipment associated with the failure including customer premises equipment (CPE), local exchange carrier equipment, and network provider equipment including VPN core access point equipment to a VPN core that are used on segments of the VPN access path; gathering information related to the determined equipment used on the segments of the VPN access path, including support of automated diagnostic procedures and communication protocols used; running a loop-back test on a selected segment of the VPN access path initiated by a request of the RBPA program to a centralized test platform which connects to the VPN access path; determining status including results of the loop-back test, a link status, a line protocol status, and an existing loop status; running additional selected tests based on the codified rules and the status; and isolating the failure to the local exchange carrier equipment, the CPE, or the network provider equipment.