Patent ID: 7945696

Claim:
A method, comprising: grouping at least some links in a computer network into one or more groups based on the one or more characteristics of the links, wherein each link in a same group has same or compatible characteristics as other links in that group; utilizing an auto-mesh process to establish one or more tunnels upon each of the groups to create tunnel mesh groups in at least a portion of the computer network, each tunnel mesh group including a mesh of tunnels between nodes of the portion of the computer network extending over links of the respective group, each tunnel mesh group corresponding to a differentiated routing profile, each tunnel of a respective tunnel mesh group associated with a profile label for the corresponding differentiated routing profile; receiving traffic at the portion of the computer network, the traffic indicating a particular differentiated routing profile; and routing the traffic through the portion of the computer network along a tunnel of a particular tunnel mesh group corresponding to the particular differentiated routing profile traffic by associating the traffic with a particular profile label.