Method and apparatus for providing control information in a system using distributed communication routing

A distributed communications routing circuit comprising:

• a plurality of forwarding engines that are interoperably coupled to permit data exchange;
• and
• a route computation engine operably coupled to the plurality of forwarding engines, wherein the route computation engine receives registration information from the plurality of forwarding engines, wherein the registration information includes coupling information describing couplings amongst the plurality of forwarding engines and a plurality of external routers, wherein the route computation engine provides control information to at least one forwarding engine of the plurality of forwarding engines for at least one of:
• distributed routing maintenance and a specific forwarding operation.

A distributed network routing element comprises:

• a processing module;
• and
• memory operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory stores operational instructions that cause the processing module to (a) obtain at a route computation engine registration information from a plurality of forwarding engines;
• (b) identify the plurality of forwarding engines based on the registration information;
• and (c) provide control information to at least one forwarding engine of the plurality of forwarding engines for at least one of:
• distributed routing maintenance and a specific data forwarding operation.