Patent ID: 8264954

Claim:
A method of operating a network, which comprises: providing the network with: a plurality of network elements connected via a ring; wherein a first segment comprises a non-Ethernet connection and a second segment is an Ethernet connection; the ring including at least one first segment and at least one second segment; wherein one network element of the network elements is a ring master having a primary port and a secondary port; wherein a network element of the at least one second segment runs an Ethernet ring protection mechanism using test packets; the method which comprises the following steps: detecting a failure of at least one of the at least one first segment by the ring master; unblocking the secondary port of the ring master; sending a first message by the ring master via the primary port and via the secondary port; responding, with each network element that received the first message, with an acknowledge message and forwarding the first message to a next network element; if a network element does not receive an acknowledge message, entering a pre-forwarding state with the network element, the pre-forwarding state being a state in which the network element blocks all traffic except the test packets and waits to switch over to normal operation; in the pre-forwarding state, blocking a port of the network element toward the network element that did not send the acknowledge message; sending a second message to the ring master with the network element entering the pre-forwarding state; after recovery of the failure, blocking the secondary port of the ring master and sending a third message via the primary port and via the secondary port; and upon receiving the third message, switching each network element residing in the pre-forwarding state to the normal operation.