Patent ID: 8593945

Claim:
A method of detecting a mismatch between a first port associated with a first maintenance end point and a second port associated with a second maintenance end point, wherein the first port and the second port are connected by at least one service instance, the method comprising: determining whether a destination address associated with the second port and a virtual local access network identifier (VID) for a service instance monitored by the first maintenance end point are included in a table of the first port; setting a traffic field in a first continuity check message sent from the first maintenance end point to the second maintenance end point based on whether the destination address associated with the second port and the VID for the monitored service instance are included in the table of the first port; receiving, at the first maintenance end point, a second continuity check message sent from the second maintenance end point, wherein the second continuity check message includes a traffic field indicating whether a destination address associated with the first port and the VID for the monitored service instance are included in a table of the second port; determining whether a value of the traffic field in the second continuity check message matches a value of the traffic field in the first continuity check message; and detecting a mismatch when the value of the traffic field in the second continuity check message does not match the value of the traffic field in the first continuity check message.