Control and data plane synchronization during Make Before Break operations in Multiprotocol Label Switching

1. A method comprising:

in a first Label Edge Router (LER) in a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, creating a primary tunnel with a second LER;

creating a Make Before Break (MBB) tunnel with the second LER for the primary tunnel;

prior to switching to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel, sending an MPLS request to the second LER via the MBB tunnel and receiving an MPLS response from the second LER via the MBB tunnel indicating successful creation of the MBB tunnel;

switching to the MBB tunnel responsive to the successful creation of the MBB tunnel; and

prior to tearing down the primary tunnel, checking statistics of the MBB tunnel and the primary tunnel, including a traffic rate of the MBB tunnel and the primary tunnel, to ensure traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel, wherein the checking statistics includes caching statistics from the primary tunnel prior to the switching, determining the statistics for the MBB tunnel after switching, and comparing the cached statistics with the statistics for the MBB tunnel to compare the traffic rate of the MBB tunnel with the traffic rate of the primary tunnel in the cached statistics, and wherein the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel based on an indication the traffic rate of the MBB tunnel in the statistics for the MBB tunnel has a similar rate to the traffic rate of the primary tunnel in the cached statistics.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

tearing down the primary tunnel responsive to a determination the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel based on the statistics.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cached statistics from the primary tunnel and the statistics for the MBB tunnel are received Performance Monitoring (PM) data.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the checking statistics is utilized in lieu of signaling messages between the first LER and the second LER to determine the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the checking statistics is utilized in lieu of Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) signaling messages.

6. A Label Edge Router (LER) comprising:

a plurality of ports;

a switching fabric communicatively coupling the plurality of ports; and

a controller configured to control the plurality of ports and the switching fabric to:

create a primary tunnel with a second LER,

create a Make Before Break (MBB) tunnel with the second LER for the primary tunnel,

prior to switching to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel, send an MPLS request to the second LER via the MBB tunnel and determine reception of an MPLS response from the second LER via the MBB tunnel indicating successful creation of the MBB tunnel,

switch to the MBB tunnel responsive to the successful creation of the MBB tunnel, and

prior to tearing down the primary tunnel, check statistics of the MBB tunnel and the primary tunnel, including a traffic rate of the MBB tunnel and the primary tunnel, to ensure traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel, wherein the statistics are checked by the controller through a cache of statistics from the primary tunnel prior to the switch, a determination of the statistics for the MBB tunnel after the switch and a comparison of the cached statistics with the statistics for the MBB tunnel to compare the traffic rate of the MBB tunnel with the traffic rate of the primary tunnel in the cached statistics, and wherein the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel based on an indication the traffic rate of the MBB tunnel in the statistics for the MBB tunnel has a similar rate to the traffic rate of the primary tunnel in the cached statistics.

7. The LER of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to control the plurality of ports and the switching fabric to

tear down the primary tunnel responsive to a determination the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel based on the statistics.

8. The LER of claim 6 , wherein the cached statistics from the primary tunnel and the statistics for the MBB tunnel are received Performance Monitoring (PM) data.

9. The LER of claim 6 , wherein the statistics are checked by the controller instead of signaling messages between the first LER and the second LER to determine the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel.

10. The LER of claim 9 , wherein the checking statistics is utilized in lieu of Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) signaling messages.

11. A Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network comprising:

a plurality of nodes which include at least a first Label Edge Router (LER) and a second LER;

wherein a primary tunnel is created between the first LER and the second LER;

wherein a Make Before Break (MBB) tunnel is created between the first LER and the second LER for the primary tunnel;

wherein, prior to switching to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel, the first LER sends an MPLS request to the second LER via the MBB tunnel and receives an MPLS response from the second LER via the MBB tunnel indicating successful creation of the MBB tunnel;

wherein the first LER switches to the MBB tunnel responsive to the successful creation of the MBB tunnel;

wherein, prior to tearing down the primary tunnel, the first LER checks statistics of the MBB tunnel and the primary tunnel, including a traffic rate of the MBB tunnel and the primary tunnel, to ensure traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel;

wherein the statistics are checked through a cache of statistics from the primary tunnel prior to the switch, a determination of the statistics for the MBB tunnel after the switch and a comparison of the cached statistics with the statistics for the MBB tunnel to compare the traffic rate of the MBB tunnel with the traffic rate of the primary tunnel in the cached statistics; and

wherein the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel based on an indication the traffic rate of the MBB tunnel in the statistics for the MBB tunnel has a similar rate to the traffic rate of the primary tunnel in the cached statistics.

12. The MPLS network of claim 11 , wherein the primary tunnel is torn down responsive to a determination the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel based on the statistics.

13. The MPLS network of claim 11 , wherein the cached statistics from the primary tunnel and the statistics for the MBB tunnel are received Performance Monitoring (PM) data.

14. The MPLS network of claim 11 , wherein the statistics are utilized in lieu of Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) signaling messages to determine the traffic has moved to the MBB tunnel from the primary tunnel.