Patent ID: 8441942

Claim:
A method for facilitating a communications network, comprising: composing a diagnostic packet stream including a source address in a source address field and a continuity check message (CCM) configured to detect connectivity failures in a maintenance association; transmitting the diagnostic packet stream from a maintenance association end point (MEP) of a source object addressed by the source address across the communications network at a configurable time period; receiving a returning packet stream; incrementing a counter value if source address in the returning packet stream matches with address of the source object and resetting the counter value if the source address in the returning packet stream mismatches with the address of the source object; declaring loop detection at a port if the counter value matches with a predefined number; identifying a port having a loop condition in response to the loop detection and reporting the loop condition to a network administrator; and redirecting network traffic from the port and activating a backup path from the source object to a destination node; and redirecting network traffic via the backup path.