Patent ID: 8374095

Claim:
A method, comprising: initiating a connection verification (CV) message from an initiating maintenance end point (MEP) for a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) label switched path (LSP), the CV message carried in a packet having a time-to-live (TTL) value of 1; receiving the packet at one or more maintenance intermediate points (MIPs) along the MPLS LSP; each MIP: decrementing the TTL value, in response to determining that the TTL value equals 0, examining a payload of the packet to determine that the packet carries the CV message, confirming that the MPLS LSP is set up on a control plane and a data plane and that a received label in the packet is bound to a Connection identifier (ID) of the MPLS LSP, appending an identification (ID) of the receiving MIP to a route record field of the payload having any previous MIP IDs of upstream MIPs, and forwarding the CV message downstream along the MPLS LSP in a packet having a TTL value of 1; receiving the CV message at an end MEP; and sending a CV reply having the route record field with MIP IDs of the MPLS LSP and an end MEP ID of the MPLS LSP to the initiating MEP.