Patent ID: 7634554

Claim:
A method for allowing a router to efficiently determine a time-to-live (TTL) configuration of a peer router in a computer network, the method comprising the steps of: automatically determining which TTL mode of operation the peer router supports by sending an initial Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message from the router to the peer router, the initial BGP message including a first predetermined value of a TTL parameter; if the router receives a positive acknowledgement of the initial BGP message from the peer router, determining that the peer router supports exchanges of messages using a new TTL mode of operation; and if the router receives a negative acknowledgement of the initial BGP message from the peer router, deciding that the peer router does not support the new TTL mode of operation, and switching to an old TTL mode of operation by resending the initial BGP message with a second predetermined value of the TTL parameter, and subsequently, upgrading the peer router to the new TTL mode of operation, rebooting the peer router, thereby destroying an existing session between the routers, establishing a new session by sending messages with the first predetermined value of the TTL parameter, and communicating between the routers using messages with the first predetermined value of the TTL parameter.