Patent ID: 8102780

Claim:
A method for verifying connectivity in a network comprising a plurality of provider edge routers and a plurality of customer edge routers within a customer virtual private network, comprising: establishing a network management virtual private network, wherein the network management virtual private network includes at least two provider edge routers of the plurality of provider edge routers that do not support customers and are not associated with any customer interface; initiating a connectivity test between a pair of provider edge routers of the at least two provider edge routers in the network management virtual private network; identifying a plurality of provisioned routes, wherein each of the provisioned routes corresponds to a respective edge communication link provisioned in a service provider network; identifying a plurality of active routes, wherein each of the active routes corresponds to a respective edge communication link active in the service provider network; and comparing the provisioned routes to the active routes for determining operational statuses of the respective edge communication links, wherein the determining operational statues comprises: determining that a respective edge communication link is operational if an active route corresponding to the respective edge communication link is identified that matches a provisioned route corresponding to the respective edge communication link; and determining that a respective edge communication link is non-operational if no active route corresponding to the respective edge communication link is identified that matches a provisioned route corresponding to the respective edge communication link.