Patent ID: 8531976

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, at a receiving node located intermediate along a tunnel that extends from a head-end node to one or more tail-end nodes via one or more intermediate nodes in a computer network, a signaled trigger to protect the tunnel; in response to receiving the signaled trigger to protect the tunnel, utilizing a tunnel connectivity verification protocol at the receiving node to establish a tunnel connectivity verification session, from the receiving node to a corresponding downstream next-next-hop (NNHOP) node, the tunnel connectivity verification session to verify ongoing operation of the tunnel between the receiving node and the corresponding downstream NNHOP node by reoccurring transmission of control packets along the tunnel and detection of a response or non-response to each of the control packets, a non-response to one or more control packets causing failure of the tunnel connective verification session; and in response to a failure of the tunnel connectivity verification session, notifying, by the receiving node, the head-end node of the failure.