Patent ID: 8400910

Claim:
A network operating method comprising: relaying a first packet from a packet switch to a first one of a plurality of destination packet switches using two or more different tunnels of a first combination of tunnels and using one or more intermediate packet switches connecting the two or more different tunnels of the first combination of tunnels; deactivating one of the tunnels of the first combination without deactivating any other tunnel of the first combination; and after deactivating the one tunnel of the first combination, relaying a second packet from the packet switch to a second one of the plurality of destination packet switches using two or more different tunnels of a second combination of tunnels and using one or more intermediate packet switches connecting the two or more different tunnels of the second combination of tunnels; wherein the first packet includes a first transport identifier conforming to the IEEE 802.1ah standard, the first transport identifier including a first backbone destination address (B-DA) and the second packet includes a second transport identifier conforming to the IEEE 802.1ah standard, the second transport identifier including a second B-DA, the second B-DA being different from the first B-DA; and wherein the first transport identifier comprises a backbone virtual local area network identifier (B-VID) having a first value and the second transport identifier also comprises the B-VID having the first value.