Patent ID: 8711859

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a plurality of control packets through a control plane tunnel that communicates control traffic for a plurality of virtual private networks (VPNs) among a plurality of autonomous systems; for each control packet, identifying a routing instance of the control packet according to a control tag of the control packet to yield a plurality of routing instances, at least two routing instances distinct from each other; routing the control packets according to the routing instances; receiving a plurality of data packets through a data plane tunnel that communicates data traffic for the VPNs among the autonomous systems, the data plane tunnel being separate from the control plane tunnel in a single link; for each data packet, identifying a forwarding instance of the data packet for the data packet according to a data tag of the data packet to yield a plurality of forwarding instances, at least two forwarding instances distinct from each other; and forwarding the data packets according to the forwarding instances, wherein the single link carries the routing instance and the forwarding instance and the control tag identifies the routing instance and the data tag identifies the forwarding instance.