Method and system for protection group switching

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of flows at a switching element, the plurality of flows comprising a working group of flows received via a working path and a protection group of flows received via a protection path, each of the flows including a plurality of frames, each frame including a unique identifier of an associated flow;

at the switching element, attaching a layer-three metatag to each of the plurality of frames of each flow;

at the switching element, marking each flow in the working group with a first group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit to a first value in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow in the working group;

at the switching element, marking each flow in the protection group with a second group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit to a second value in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow in the protection group;

determining whether each of the working group and the protection group is an active group or an inactive group;

determining whether each of the plurality of flows is in the active group or in the inactive group based on whether each of the plurality of flows is marked with the first group-identifying class marker or the second group-identifying class marker;

dropping each flow in the inactive group; and

passing each flow in the active group.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

designating the protection group as the active group if a fault is detected on the working path; and

designating the working group as the active group if no fault is detected on the working path.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein dropping each flow in the inactive group comprises discarding received frames of each flow in the inactive group.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein passing each flow in the active group comprises communicating received frames of each flow in the active group to a traffic manager.

5. A switching element comprising:

an ingress marker module configured to:

receive a plurality of flows via a plurality of ports, the plurality of flows comprising a working group of flows received via a working path and a protection group of flows received via a protection path, each of the flows including a plurality of frames, each frame including a unique identifier of an associated flow;

attach a layer-three metatag to each of the plurality of frames of each flow;

mark each flow in the working group with a first group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit to a first value in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow in the working group; and

mark each flow in the protection group with a second group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit to a second value in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow in the protection group; and

an ingress logic engine configured to:

determine whether each of the working group and the protection group is an active group or an inactive group;

determine whether each of the plurality of flows is in the active group or in the inactive group based on whether each of the plurality of flows is marked with the first group-identifying class marker or the second group-identifying class marker;

drop each flow in the inactive group; and

pass each flow in the active group.

6. The switching element of claim 5 , wherein the ingress logic engine is further configured to:

designate the protection group as the active group if a fault is detected on the working path; and

designate the working group as the active group if no fault is detected on the working path.

7. The switching element of claim 5 , wherein the ingress logic engine is further configured to discard received frames of the each flow in the inactive group.

8. The switching element of claim 5 , wherein the ingress logic engine is further configured to communicate received frames of each flow in the active group to a traffic manager.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying logic, the logic operable, when executed by a processor, to:

receive a plurality of flows, the plurality of flows comprising a working group of flows received via a working path and a protection group of flows received via a protection path, each of the flows including a plurality of frames, each frame including a unique identifier of an associated flow;

attach a layer-three metatag to each of the plurality of frames of each flow;

mark each flow in the working group with a first group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit to a first value in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow in the working group;

mark each flow in the protection group with a second group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit to a second value in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow in the protection group;

determine whether each of the working group and the protection group is an active group or an inactive group;

determine whether each of the plurality of flows is in the active group or in the inactive group based on whether each of the plurality of flows is marked with the first group-identifying class marker or the second group-identifying class marker;

drop each flow in the inactive group; and

pass each flow in the active group.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the logic is further operable, when executed, to:

designate the protection group as the active group if a fault is detected on the working path; and

designate the working group as the active group if no fault is detected on the working path.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the logic is further operable, when executed, to discard received frames of the each flow in the inactive group.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the logic is further operable, when executed, communicate received frames of each flow in the active group to a traffic manager.

13. A method comprising:

at a switching element, receiving a plurality of flows grouped into a plurality of working groups and a plurality of corresponding protection groups, each of the flows including a plurality of frames, each frame including a unique identifier of an associated flow;

at the switching element, attaching a layer-three metatag to each of the plurality of frames of each flow;

at the switching element, marking each flow with a group-identifying class marker by setting at least one bit in the layer-three metatag attached to each of the plurality of frames of each flow;

assigning an active or inactive status to each group, wherein each protection group has an opposite status as compared to its corresponding working group;

identifying each flow as active or inactive based on the group-identifying class marker of each flow and the active or inactive status of each group;

dropping each inactive flow; and

passing each active flow.