Patent ID: 8121032

Claim:
A method, comprising determining a particular network border node in a computer network for traffic having a destination address prefix; determining a particular unique index value associated with the particular border node by looking up the particular border node in a list of border node next-hop options that maps border nodes to corresponding unique index values and determining the particular unique index value that corresponds to the particular border node; accessing a list of one or more virtual private network (VPN) labels for use in reaching the destination address prefix that maps VPN labels to corresponding unique index values, and determining a VPN label, the list of one or more VPN labels maintained as a separate data structure from the list of border node next-hop options; applying the particular unique index value to the list of one or more VPN labels to select a particular VPN label that corresponds to the particular unique index value, the particular VPN label associated with the particular border node; affixing the particular VPN label to the traffic by a network device; detecting a change to the border node next-hop options; and converging the border node next-hop options based on the change by updating the list of border node next hop options, wherein a VPN label for subsequent traffic having the destination address prefix is determined using a unique index value that corresponds to a border node of the updated list of border node next hop options.