Patent ID: 8902780

Claim:
A method of verifying connectivity of paths through a computer network containing a plurality of network devices, the method comprising: establishing a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) point-to-multipoint (P2MP) label switched path (LSP) for transporting packets through a network, wherein the P2MP LSP includes a source device providing an ingress to the P2MP LSP and a plurality of destination devices providing a plurality of different egress devices from the P2MP LSP; using a P2MP Label Switched Path (LSP) ping protocol, sending an LSP ping echo request along the P2MP LSP, wherein the LSP ping echo request embeds a discriminator to establish a Multipoint Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (MP BFD) session for testing connectivity of the P2MP LSP in accordance with a MP BFD protocol, and wherein the LSP ping echo request includes an indicator specifying that the egress devices of the P2MP LSP should not reply to the LSP ping echo request with an LSP ping echo reply to establish the MP BFD session; and without receiving an LSP ping echo reply from the egress devices, initiating connectivity verification of the P2MP LSP by outputting BFD packets on the MP BFD session with the ingress device according to the MP BFD protocol.