Patent ID: 8553697

Claim:
A method of forwarding packets at a hub of a hub and spoke packet network, the method comprising: configuring at least two connections between the hub and an edge node; configuring the at least two connections as a protection group such that one of the connections of the protection group is configured as a primary connection to carry packets between the hub and the edge node when the primary connection is operational and at least one other of the connections of the protection group is configured as a standby connection to carry packets between the hub and the edge node when the primary connection is not operational; associating a protection group address with the protection group; learning forwarding information at the hub based on source addresses of packets received at the hub, packets received from the edge node on the primary connection of the protection group having the protection group address as a source address; and at the hub, forwarding packets having the protection group address as a destination address onto an operational connection of the protection group based on the learned forwarding information, whereby packets are forwarded at the hub onto the standby connection of the protection group based on the protection group address following failure of the primary connection without requiring relearning of forwarding information at the hub.