Method and Apparatus for VLAN-Based Selective Path Routing

A computer program product for routing at least one packet from at least one source node to at least one destination node, each node being operatively coupled to a given packet switch within a plurality of packet switches operatively coupled to a given circuit switch, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising computer usable program code configured to perform the operations of:

• establishing one or more Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), each VLAN comprising a subset of the plurality of packet switches operatively coupled to the given circuit switch, wherein at least one of the one or more VLANs comprises the at least one packet switch to which the source and destination nodes are operatively coupled;
• and
• routing the at least one packet from the source node to the destination node over at least one loop-free path comprised of one or more packet switches within a given VLAN.