Multi-point and rooted multi-point protection switching

1. A method for operating a first edge node of a plurality of edge nodes in a backbone network that serves a plurality of edge networks, the first edge node associated with a first virtual network and a second virtual network that are supported by the backbone network, the method comprising:

supporting traffic over the first virtual network;

receiving a series of control messages over at least one of the first virtual network and the second virtual network;

detecting a failure associated with the first virtual network; and

supporting the traffic over the second virtual network in response to the detecting the failure associated with the first virtual network,

wherein the series of control messages comprises a first series of control messages received over the first virtual network from a first source prior to the failure and a second series of control messages received over the second virtual network from a second source after the failure, and

wherein the first series of control messages received over the first virtual network comprises a source address that is associated with the first source that is different than a source address for the second series of control messages received from the second source, such that the traffic sent over the first virtual network prior to the detecting the failure is addressed to the first source and the traffic sent over the second virtual network after the detecting the failure is addressed to the second source.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the backbone network is a Carrier Ethernet-based network and the first virtual network and the second virtual network are Ethernet Virtual Connections of the Carrier Ethernet-based network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the failure comprises detecting that the first series of control messages are no longer being received over the first virtual network.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising receiving the second series of control messages over the second virtual network while the first series of control messages over the first virtual network are being received.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the failure comprises detecting the second series of control messages being received over the second virtual network.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the second series of control messages being received over the second virtual network are only provided in association with a failure in the first virtual network.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a series of control messages are sent toward the first edge node over the first virtual network and the control messages of the series of control messages will include a failure indicator to identify the failure associated with the first virtual network, and further comprising receiving the series of control messages over the first virtual network before the failure is detected and wherein detecting the failure comprises detecting that the control messages of the series of control messages include the failure indicator.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein supporting the traffic over the first virtual network comprises receiving the traffic from or sending the traffic to one or more of the plurality of edge nodes, and supporting the traffic over the first virtual network comprises receiving the traffic from or sending the traffic to the one or more of the plurality of edge nodes.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the traffic supported over the first virtual network is exchanged with a second edge node of the plurality of edge nodes and the traffic supported over the second virtual network is exchanged with a third edge node of the plurality of edge nodes.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the first edge node is a spoke edge node and the second edge node and the third edge node are hub edge nodes in a rooted multi-point architecture, and further comprising operating as a spoke in the multi-point architecture.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the first virtual network and the second virtual network represent separate E-TREE configured virtual Ethernet connections of a Carrier Ethernet-based network.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of edge nodes is an edge node in a multi-point architecture and further comprising operating as an edge node in a multi-point architecture.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the first virtual network and the second virtual network represent separate E-LAN configured virtual Ethernet connections of a Carrier Ethernet-based network.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the control messages of the series of control messages from the source are normally received at a rate substantially higher than one every 50 milliseconds.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the control messages of the series of control messages from the source are normally received at a rate of one every 10 milliseconds.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending control messages to the at least one of the plurality of edge nodes at a rate substantially higher than one every 50 milliseconds.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending a series of control messages to at least one of the plurality of edge nodes over the first virtual network, and

upon the detecting the failure associated with the first virtual network, providing a failure indicator in control messages of the series of control messages.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the first virtual network and the second virtual network are configured as to not share intermediate nodes, such that no intermediate node of either of the first virtual network and second virtual network are part of a shared risk link group.

19. A method for operating a first hub edge node that is associated with a second hub edge node in a backbone network wherein the first hub edge node is connected to a plurality of spoke edge nodes via a first virtual network and the second hub edge node is connected to the plurality of spoke edge nodes via a second virtual network, the method comprising:

while the second hub edge node is supposed to be transmitting traffic to at least one of the plurality of spoke edge nodes over the second virtual network, detecting a failure associated with the second virtual network; and

upon detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network, commencing delivery of the traffic to the at least one of the plurality of spoke edge nodes over the first virtual network- and

commencing delivery of a series of control messages to each of the plurality of spoke edge nodes over the first virtual network upon detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network, wherein control messages are not provided over the first virtual network by the first hub edge node when no failures are associated with the second virtual network.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising delivering of a series of control messages to each of the plurality of spoke edge nodes over the second virtual network before and after detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving a series of control messages from the second hub edge node over the second virtual network and wherein:

a failure indicator is provided in certain control messages of the series of control messages when the second hub edge node has detected the failure associated with the second virtual network; and

detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network comprises detecting when the failure indicator is provided in the certain control messages of the series of control messages.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving a series of control messages from the second hub edge node over the second virtual network prior to detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network, and wherein detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network comprises detecting that control messages of the series of control messages are no longer being received from the second hub edge node over the second virtual network.

23. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving a series of control messages from the at least one of the plurality of spoke edge nodes over the first virtual network, and wherein detecting the failure associated with the second virtual network comprises detecting that the series of control messages from the at least one of the plurality of spoke edge nodes are being received over the first virtual network.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the series of control messages from the at least one of the plurality of spoke edge nodes are provided in response to the at least one of the plurality of spoke edge nodes detecting the failure associated with second virtual network.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein the backbone network is a Carrier Ethernet-based network and the first virtual network and the second virtual network are Ethernet Virtual Connections of the Carrier Ethernet-based network.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein the first virtual network and the second virtual network represent separate E-TREE configured virtual Ethernet connections of a Carrier Ethernet network.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein the first virtual network and the second virtual network represent separate E-LAN configured virtual Ethernet connections of a Carrier Ethernet network.