Patent ID: 8472325

Claim:
A composite transport group (CTG) component comprising: a port configured to receive a server trail failure notification message; and a processor coupled to the port and configured to: responsive to receiving the server trail failure notification message, update a server trail status to out of service in a server trail table when a fault occurs in one of a plurality of server trails to indicate that the server trail is unable to transport client traffic until repaired, wherein the server trails cross a plurality of routes in a network; and perform a dynamic path redistribution of client traffic over a plurality of remaining server trails to transport all of the client traffic associated with a class of client traffic transported over the one server trail associated with the server trail failure notification message, wherein the plurality of server trails transport the client traffic between the composite transport group component and a common destination, wherein the server trail failure notification message is sent by an intermediate node to the common destination before transmission to the composite transport group component, and wherein performing the dynamic path redistribution comprises: redistributing a first portion of the client traffic from the server trail associated with the server trail failure notification message to another server trail; and dropping a remaining portion of the client traffic, wherein the capacity of the other server trail is insufficient to accommodate the remaining portion of the client traffic.