Methods and systems for a distributed provider edge

A distributed provider edge (PE) system, comprising:

• a PE backbone device that transmits data packets via a first tunnel and a second tunnel;
• a plurality of VPN Protocol Instance modules (VRPs) residing on a single Virtual Routing and Forwarding device (VRF), the VRF includes a routing table and a forwarding table, and the VRF is associated with a plurality of VPNs from a single customer site and each VRP is associated with one of the plurality of VPNs;
• a first data plane used by a number of the VRPs and the PE backbone device to communicate via the first tunnel;
• a second data plane used by a number of the VRPs and the backbone device to communicate via the second tunnel;
• and
• wherein the VRPs communicate directly with the routing table and indirectly with the forwarding table and selectively uses one of the data planes to communicate the data packets associated with the plurality of VPNs to the PE backbone device.

A distributed Provider Edge (PE) system, comprising:

• a first PE backbone device associated with a first service provider (SP);
• a second PE backbone device associated with a second SP;
• a Virtual Routing and Forwarding device (VRF) associated with a plurality of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) from a single customer site, the VRF includes a single routing table and forwarding table;
• a first VPN Protocol Instance module (VRP) residing on the VRF used to communicate with the first SP through the first PE backbone device;
• a second VRP residing on the VRF used to communicate with the second SP through the second PE backbone device;
• and
• wherein the VRPs use the routing and forwarding tables to communicate traffic from the plurality of VPNs to the PE backbones.

A method to process network traffic on a distributed Provider Edge (PE), comprising:

• receiving a first data packet at a PE, wherein the first data packet is associated with a first Virtual Private Network (VPN) transaction from a customer site;
• receiving a second data packet at the PE, wherein the second data packet is associated with a second VPN transaction from the customer site;
• associating the first data packet with a first VPN Protocol Instance module (VRP), wherein the first VRP resides on a Virtual Routing and Forwarding device (VRF);
• associating the second data packet with a second VRP, wherein the second VRP resides on the VRF;
• accessing a single routing table and forwarding table located on the VRF to acquire first addressing information for the first data packet, wherein the tables are accessed by the first VRP;
• accessing the tables located on the VRF to acquire second addressing information for the second data packet, wherein the tables are accessed by the second VRP;
• and
• using a data plane associated with the VRF to communicate the first and second data packets to a PE backbone device, wherein the first VRP and the second VRP use the data plane.