Patent ID: 8467411

Claim:
A method comprising: with a provider edge (PE) router of a network, sending a first control plane message to a core router of the network for constructing a first label switched path (LSP) to the PE router, wherein the first LSP conforms to a first type of LSP, wherein the PE router is an egress node of the first LSP, and wherein the control plane message includes a label (L1) for the first LSP and a first loopback address of the PE router associated with a first type of data traffic for constructing the first LSP to carry the first type of data traffic; with the PE router, sending a second control plane message to the core router for constructing a second LSP within the network to the PE router, wherein the second LSP conforms to the first type of LSP, wherein the PE router is the egress node of the second LSP, and wherein the second control plane message includes a label (L2) for the second LSP and a second loopback address of the PE router associated with a second type of data traffic for constructing the second LSP to carry the second type of data traffic; receiving packets from the core router carrying the first type of data traffic over the first LSP, wherein the packets carrying the first type of data traffic identify the first loopback address of the PE router as a destination address of the packets; and receiving packets from the core router carrying the second type of data traffic over the second LSP, wherein the packets carrying the second type of data traffic identify the second loopback address of the PE router as a destination address of the packets.