Patent ID: 8908537

Claim:
A provider edge device for enabling connection redundancy, the provider edge device comprising: a customer edge interface configured to communicate with a customer edge device; an active gateway election module configured to determine whether the provider edge device will be an active gateway for a connection; and a fault reporting module configured to: based on a determination that the provider edge device will be the active gateway for the connection and regardless of whether a fault has been detected, send a no fault message to a customer edge device indicating that no fault is currently associated with a link between the customer edge device and the provider edge device, and based on a determination that the provider edge device will not be the active gateway for the connection and regardless of whether a fault has been detected, send a fault message to the customer edge device indicating that a fault is currently associated with the link between the customer edge device and the provider edge device, wherein: the customer edge interface is configured to support a virtual leased line (VLL) service between the customer edge device and another customer edge device; the fault reporting module is further configured to maintain a first maintenance endpoint (MEP) associated with a first link between the provider edge device and the customer edge device; the active gateway election module, in determining whether the provider edge device will be an active gateway for a connection, is configured to execute a border gateway protocol (BGP) multihoming process to elect, among the provider edge device and an additional provider edge device, a designated forwarder for the VLL service; the fault reporting module, in sending a no fault message to the customer edge device indicating that no fault is currently associated with the link, is configured to report a no-fault status associated with the first link to the customer edge device via the first MEP; and the fault reporting module, in sending a fault message to the customer edge device indicating that a fault is currently associated with the link, is configured to report a fault status associated with the first link to the customer edge device via the first MEP.