Update of mac routes in evpn single-active topology

A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

• participate, with one of a plurality of multi-homed provider edge (PE) routers that provide an active-standby configuration for an Ethernet segment coupling the PE routers to a customer network, in a designated forwarder (DF) election of the PE routers for the Ethernet segment;
• and
• upon election as the DF for the Ethernet segment, send, with the one of the PE routers, a first control plane routing protocol message to a remote PE router, wherein the first control plane routing protocol message includes an indicator that the PE router is a designated forwarder in the Ethernet segment,
• wherein the first control plane routing protocol message and the second control plane routing protocol message each comprise an Ethernet A-D route communicated by the BGP protocol and including an EVPN MH PE Status extended community for the Ethernet A-D route to specifically identify the primary DF or backup DF status for the sending PE.

A method comprising:

• receiving, with a remote router coupled by an intermediate network to a plurality of multi-homed provider edge (PE) routers that provide an active-standby configuration for an Ethernet segment coupling the PE routers to a customer network,
• a first control plane routing protocol message, wherein the first control plane routing protocol message includes an indicator that a first one of the plurality of PE routers has affirmatively been selected as a primary designated forwarder (DF) in the Ethernet segment coupled to an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN);
• receiving, with the remote router, a second control plane routing protocol message, wherein the first control plane routing protocol message includes an indicator that a second one of the plurality of PE routers has affirmatively been selected as a backup designated forwarder (DF) for the Ethernet Segment;
• in response to receiving MAC routes for the EVPN, associating MAC addresses advertised by the MAC routes with a shared next hop within the remote router;
• and
• updating, in response to a control plane message withdrawing the primary DF from the EVPN, the shared next hop to direct network traffic for all MACs associated with the EVPN to the backup DF without waiting to receive individual MAC routes updating next hops for the MAC addresses of the EVPN on a MAC-by-MAC basis.

A router comprising:

• a processor configured to execute a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) protocol to configure the router to participate within an EVPN as a remote router coupled by an intermediate network to a plurality of multi-homed provider edge (PE) routers that provide an active-standby connectivity to a customer network,
• wherein the BGP protocol executing on the processor receives a first control plane routing protocol message that includes an indicator that a first one of the plurality of PE routers has affirmatively been selected as a primary designated forwarder (DF) in the Ethernet segment and a second control plane routing protocol message that includes an indicator that a second one of the plurality of PE routers has affirmatively been selected as a backup DF in the Ethernet segment,
• wherein, in response to receiving MAC routes for the EVPN, the EVPN protocol executing on the processor is configured to associating MAC addresses advertised by the MAC routes with a shared next hop within the remote router, and
• wherein the processor is configured to update, in response to a control plane message withdrawing the primary DF from the EVPN, the shared next hop to direct network traffic for all MACs associated with the EVPN to the backup DF without waiting to receive individual MAC routes updating next hops for the MAC addresses of the EVPN on a MAC-by-MAC basis.