Method and apparatus for supporting bidirectional forwarding (bfd) over multi-chassis link aggregation group (mc-lag) in internet protocol (ip) networks

A first network device in a packet network for enabling link failure detection in a multi-chassis link aggregation group (MC-LAG), the first network device comprising:

• one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, said non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the first network device to:
• transmit an Internet Protocol (IP) packet over a first link that is part of the MC-LAG, wherein the MC-LAG couples the first network device with a second network device and a third network device that are part of an Inter-Chassis Redundancy (ICR) system, wherein the IP packet includes a payload including a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) control packet, and wherein the destination address of the IP packet is one of a multicast IP address and a broadcast IP address.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a processor of a first network device, will cause said processor to perform operations comprising:

• transmitting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet over a first link that is part of a Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation Group (MC-LAG), wherein the MC-LAG couples the first network device with a second network device and a third network device that are part of an Inter-Chassis Redundancy (ICR) system, wherein the IP packet includes a payload including a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) control packet, and wherein the destination address of the IP packet is one of a multicast IP address and a broadcast IP address.

A method in a first network device in a packet network of enabling link failure detection in a multi-chassis link aggregation group (MC-LAG), the method comprising:

• receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) packet over a first link that is part of the MC-LAG, wherein the MC-LAG couples the first network device with a second network device, wherein the first network device is part of an Inter-Chassis Redundancy (ICR) system, wherein the IP packet includes a payload including a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) control packet, and wherein the destination address of the IP packet is one of a multicast IP address and a broadcast IP address;
• and
• determining based on the BFD control packet that the first link is still active.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a processor of a first network device, will cause said processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) packet over a first link that is part of a multi-chassis link aggregation group (MC-LAG), wherein the MC-LAG couples the first network device with a second network device, wherein the first network device is part of an Inter-Chassis Redundancy (ICR) system, wherein the IP packet includes a payload including a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) control packet, and wherein the destination address of the IP packet is one of a multicast IP address and a broadcast IP address;
• and
• determining based on the BFD control packet that the first link is still active.