Patent ID: 8144577

Claim:
A method for use at an entry bridge for efficiently managing bandwidth (BW) registration for multiple spanning tree options in a computer network, the method comprising: determining a spanning tree path rooted at each bridge of a plurality of bridges of the computer network, such that there is a spanning tree path per bridge of the computer network, each spanning tree path associated with a different virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (VID) assigned to the respective bridge at which the spanning tree is rooted; determining a registered BW on each of the spanning tree paths; determining a remaining available BW on each of the spanning tree paths from the registered BW; receiving a request to initiate BW registration for a data flow from a source end point to a destination end point; and, in response selecting one of the plurality of spanning tree paths associated with a particular VID to utilize for the data flow based on the remaining available BW on each of the spanning tree paths; and sending a registration message for the data flow toward the destination end point along the selected spanning tree path.