Patent ID: 7668178

Claim:
In a first data communication device of a label-switching network, a method to facilitate configuring the label-switching network with VPN (Virtual Private Network) services, the method comprising: discovering at the first data communication device which ones of a plurality of data communication devices in the label-switching network are associated with a Virtual Private Network in common with the first data communication device by: communicating a message from the first data communication device to a set of the data communication devices in the label-switching network, the set of the data communication devices including a second data communication device in the label-switching network, the message including an indication that the first data communication device supports at least one VPN service without including a list of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) associated with the at least one VPN service of the first data communication device; receiving, at the first data communication device, a request from the second data communication device for the list of VPNs associated with the at least one VPN service of the first data communication device; in response to the request from the second data communication device, forwarding, from the first data communication device to the second data communication device, the list of VPNs associated with the at least one VPN service of the first data communication device; and receiving from the second data communication device an identifier of the Virtual Private Network common to both the first data communication device and the second data communication device; and setting up a respective VPN service between the first data communication device and the second data communication device, the respective VPN service corresponding to the Virtual Private Network discovered to be common to both, the first data communication device and the second data communication device.