Patent ID: 7990850

Claim:
A method for providing redundant connectivity between an Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) access network and a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) network, the method comprising: providing a plurality of EAPS nodes in the EAPS access network and a plurality of VPLS nodes in the VPLS network; providing a first of the plurality of VPLS nodes to function as an EAPS controller node and a second of the plurality of VPLS nodes to function as an EAPS partner node, the first VPLS node having a controller state machine to track whether each of the plurality of EAPS nodes has access to the first and the second VPLS nodes, each of the plurality of VPLS nodes linked to each of the remaining of the plurality of VPLS nodes by a pseudowire link, the first and the second VPLS nodes also linked by an EAPS shared-link; establishing an EAPS ring connecting the first VPLS node, the second VPLS node and the plurality of EAPS nodes, wherein the EAPS shared-link forms that portion of the EAPS ring between the first and second VPLS nodes, and wherein one of the plurality of EAPS nodes is designated as an EAPS master node, the EAPS master node to receive a control message indicating a network failure in the EAPS ring; monitoring the EAPS ring; unblocking a secondary port of the EAPS master node in response to detecting a network failure in the EAPS ring at the EAPS shared-link between the first and second VPLS nodes; and disabling all pseudowire links associated with the first VPLS node, in response to detecting the network failure at the EAPS shared-link, if any of the plurality of EAPS nodes has access to both the first and the second VPLS nodes as determined by the controller state machine, otherwise, maintaining existing pseudowire links associated with the first VPLS node regardless of whether any network failure is detected in the EAPS ring at the EAPS shared-link.