Patent ID: 8468258

Claim:
A method of a provider service access point (SAP) determining an address of a customer SAP, the method comprising: determining that a virtual leased line (VLL) service connecting a second customer SAP and the first customer SAP is not active; using its media access control (MAC) address to create a substitute IPv6 link local address, wherein the substitute IPv6 link local address acts as the IPv6 link local address for the second customer SAP; establishing an IPv6CP session with the first customer SAP using the substitute IPv6 link local address; receiving a Neighbor Solicitation packet or Neighbor Advertisement packet over the VLL service, wherein the established IPv6CP session triggered the VLL service to become active; extracting, from the Neighbor Solicitation packet or Neighbor Advertisement packet, a true IPv6 link local address for the second customer SAP; and renegotiating the IPv6CP session, wherein the true IPv6 link local address replaces the substitute IPv6 link local address.