Patent ID: 7420958

Claim:
A method comprising: defining an attribute set data type for a routing protocol to store original routing attributes used within an origin of routing information, and wherein the original routing attributes comprise routing attributes defined by the routing protocol; and communicating routing information between customer networks of a virtual private network and an intermediate network in accordance with the routing protocol and the attribute set data type to isolate the customer networks from routing attributes used within the intermediate network by: receiving a first message from a first one of the customer networks that advertises routing information specifying original routing attributes used within the first one of the customer networks; and outputting a second message that advertises the routing information of the first one of the customer networks to the intermediate network, wherein the second message includes: (i) a first attribute set that specifies routing attributes used within the intermediate network, and (ii) a second attribute set that specifies the original routing attributes used within the first one of the customer networks in accordance with the attribute set data type.