Patent ID: 8385353

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at a first network element: one or more processors; Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) logic encoded in one or more non-transitory storage media for execution and when executed operable at least to: receive and send configuration information for a VPLS instance by executing a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) auto-discovery process that receives and sends the configuration information for the VPLS instance; wherein the configuration information comprises a first value that uniquely identifies the VPLS instance and a plurality of second values that respectively and uniquely identify each of a plurality of second network elements that are operable to provide the VPLS instance; configuration logic encoded in one or more non-transitory storage media for execution and when executed operable at least to: automatically configure, at the first network element, based on the configuration information for the VPLS instance, a Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) association and a local maintenance endpoint (MEP) for the VPLS instance on the apparatus; wherein to perform the automatic configuration, the configuration logic is further operable to: based on the first value, determine a CFM identifier of the CFM association that is to be configured for the plurality of second network elements; based on the plurality of second values, determine a plurality of MEP identifiers that uniquely identify a plurality of MEPs, in the CFM association, that are to be respectively configured on the plurality of second network elements; based on a local value that uniquely identifies the apparatus in the VPLS instance, determine a local MEP identifier that uniquely identifies, in the CFM association, the local MEP that is to be configured at the apparatus; configure the CFM association and the local MEP based at least on the CFM identifier of the CFM association, the local MEP identifier, and the plurality of MEP identifiers that uniquely identify the plurality of MEPs in the CFM association.