Patent ID: 8014409

Claim:
A physical routing device that is configurable as a member of a virtual router, said physical routing device comprising: a central processing unit (CPU); a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, said instructions when executed by said CPU implementing a method of configuring said virtual router, said method comprising: receiving packets from a first network through a first interface of a first physical routing device and forwarding said packets to a second network through a second interface of said first physical routing device, wherein said first physical routing device is a member of both a first virtual router and a second virtual router; associating a first virtual router identifier (VRID) with said first interface and a second VRID with said second interface, said first and second VRIDs having different values, said first VRID associating said first interface with said first virtual router and said second VRID associating said second interface with said second virtual router; and associating a single third VRID with both said first interface and said second interface.