Patent ID: 8223660

Claim:
A method of enabling rapid failure notification in a link state protocol controlled Ethernet network having dataplane multicast capability, the method comprising the steps of: issuing, by a first node operating in the link state protocol controlled Ethernet network, a frame containing a control message signifying a local topology change, the frame being addressed to a control plane specific multicast group address; receiving, by a second node operating in the link state protocol controlled Ethernet network, the frame containing the control message from the first node, the frame being addressed to the control plane specific multicast group address; performing a reverse path forwarding check on the frame by the second node to determine if the frame arrived on an expected port at the second node for the first node; discarding the frame immediately, by the second node, when the frame fails the reverse path forwarding check; and forwarding the frame, by the second node toward a plurality of downstream nodes in the link state protocol controlled Ethernet network, according to forwarding state stored in a forwarding information base on the second node only if the frame passes the reverse path forwarding check wherein a selection of the plurality of downstream nodes to which the frame is forwarded is determined by the steps of: only forwarding the frame if the second node is two-connected between the first node and a third node, and only forwarding the frame by the second node to the third node from which the frame was not received; and processing the frame in a control plane prior to forwarding the frame if the second node is more than two-connected.