Virtual private networking methods and systems

A system for providing a virtual private network (VPN) including network elements which provide access to respective autonomous systems (ASs), the system comprising:

• a transceiver configured for communication within one of the ASs and a communication link connecting the ASs;
• and
• a communications control module configured to establish a label switched path (LSP) between the network elements through the transceiver, to maintain a record of resources which are used for the LSP in at least one of the ASs, to establish a backup LSP between the network elements, the backup LSP excluding the resources which are used for the LSP, and to redistribute labeled routes associated with the one of the ASs to the network element within the other AS using the LSP or the backup LSP.

A system for configuring an inter-domain virtual private network (VPN) between network elements which provide access to a plurality of autonomous systems (ASs), the system comprising:

• a transceiver adapted for communication both within a first AS and with a second AS;
• and
• a communications control module configured to receive through the transceiver from a first network element in the first AS and belonging to a VPN a plurality of VPN labeled routes used by the first network element, to aggregate at least a subset of the plurality of VPN labeled routes into an aggregated inter-AS VPN labeled route, and to distribute the aggregated inter-AS VPN labeled route through the transceiver to the second AS for redistribution by the second AS to a second network element in the second AS belonging to the VPN.

A machine-readable medium storing a data structure comprising:

• a plurality of data fields storing identifiers associated with respective virtual private network (VPN) labeled routes used by a first network element in a first autonomous system (AS) and belonging to a VPN, the VPN labeled routes being distributed within the first AS by the first network element;
• and
• a data field storing an identifier of an aggregated inter-AS VPN labeled route into which the plurality of VPN labeled routes is aggregated, the aggregated inter-AS VPN labeled route being distributed to a second AS for redistribution to a second network element in the second AS belonging to the VPN.