Patent ID: 8144576

Claim:
A method of providing Ethernet protection switching in a Provider Backbone Bridging Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) Domain, the method comprising the steps of: establishing a first PBB-TE trunk between a first backbone component (B-component) and a second B-component, the first PBB-TE trunk having a first Ethernet switching path (ESP) for unidirectional traffic from the first B-component to the second B-component and a second ESP for unidirectional traffic from the second B-component to the first B-component, wherein the first ESP is associated with a first Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Identifier (VID), and the second ESP is associated with a second VID; establishing a second PBB-TE trunk between the first B-component and the second B-component, the second PBB-TE trunk having a third ESP for unidirectional traffic from the first B-component to the second B-component and a fourth ESP for unidirectional traffic from the second B component to the first B-component, wherein the third ESP is associated with a third V1D and the fourth ESP is associated with a fourth V1D; configuring a Backbone Service Instance table for a Customer Backbone Port (CBP) of the first B-component, wherein the Backbone Service Instance table includes an entry for each of one or more service instances supported by the first B-component, and wherein each of the supported service instances is associated with a Backbone Service Instance Identifier (I-SID); exchanging data traffic between the PBB-TE Domain and an attached network at the CBP, wherein the data traffic is identified by a first I-SID; filtering the data traffic entering the PBB-TE domain at the first B-Component based on I-SID values configured for the CBP; mapping data traffic entering the PBB-TE Domain at the first B-Component onto a PBB-TE trunk by setting a Backbone VID (B-VID) entry for the first I-SID in the Backbone Service Instance table to a working, entity VID identifying a working entity for that I-SID, the first PBB-TE trunk corresponding to the working entity and the second PBB-TE trunk corresponding to a backup protection entity for that I-SID; transmitting I-SID identified data traffic entering the PBB-TE Domain at the first B-Component on the first PBB-TE trunk in accordance with the mapping; configuring a respective PBB-TE Maintenance End Point (MEP) on the CBP to monitor each PBB-TE trunk; monitoring Continuity Check Messages (CCMs) received over the first PBB-TE trunk for faults on the first PBB-TE trunk, wherein a Remote Defect Indicator (RDI) included in each CCM indicates whether a fault has occurred on the first PBB-TE trunk; upon detecting a fault on the first PBB-TE trunk, remapping I-SID identified data traffic onto the second PBB-TE trunk by changing the B-VID entry for the first I SID from the working entity VID to a predetermined protection entity VID associated with the working entity VID; and transmitting received I-SID identified data traffic on the second PBB-TE trunk in accordance with the remapping.