Protection switching over a virtual link aggregation

A method, comprising:

• operating a protected virtual link aggregation group comprising a first and a second aggregate link groups as a protected logical channel, wherein an aggregate link group comprises a plurality of aggregated links operating as a logical channel;
• operating the first aggregate link group as an active logical channel representing the protected logical channel;
• and
• operating the second aggregate link group as a standby logical channel in the protected virtual link aggregation group;
• encapsulating a packet received via the protected virtual link aggregation with an encapsulation header;
• and
• assigning a virtual switch identifier as an ingress identifier of the encapsulation header, wherein the virtual switch identifier is associated with the first and the second aggregate link groups.

A computing system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising:
• operating a protected virtual link aggregation group comprising a first and a second aggregate link groups as a protected logical channel, wherein an aggregate link group comprises a plurality of aggregated links operating as a logical channel;
• operating the first aggregate link group as an active logical channel representing the protected logical channel;
• and
• operating the second aggregate link group as a standby logical channel in the protected virtual link aggregation group;
• encapsulating a packet received via the protected virtual link aggregation with an encapsulation header;
• and
• assigning a virtual switch identifier as an ingress identifier of the encapsulation header, wherein the virtual switch identifier is associated with the first and the second aggregate link groups.