Processing Packets of a Virtual Interface Associated with Tunnels

A packet switch operating method comprising:

• assigning a packet to a virtual interface, the virtual interface being associated with a plurality of tunnels, one of the plurality being designated as a primary tunnel and another tunnel of the plurality being designated as backup tunnel;
• duplicating the packet, one duplicate being associated with the primary tunnel and another duplicate being associated with the backup tunnel;
• egressing the duplicate associated with the primary tunnel via the primary tunnel on a packet switch port associated with the primary tunnel;
• and
• discarding the duplicate associated with the backup tunnel.

A packet switch operating method comprising:

• assigning a packet to a virtual interface, the virtual interface being associated with a plurality of tunnels, one of the plurality being designated as a primary tunnel and any other tunnel of the plurality being designated as a backup tunnel, each of the plurality of tunnels being associated with a packet switch port and a tunnel format;
• creating duplicates of the packet, each of the duplicates being associated with a different one of the plurality of tunnels;
• forwarding each duplicate to a switching fabric port associated with the packet switch port associated with the tunnel associated with the duplicate via a switching fabric of the packet switch;
• receiving the duplicates from the switching fabric ports;
• modifying the duplicate associated with the primary tunnel to conform to the tunnel format associated with the primary tunnel;
• egressing the modified duplicate via the primary tunnel on the packet switch port associated with the primary tunnel;
• and
• discarding the duplicates associated with any backup tunnel