Failure protection in a provider backbone bridge network using selective redirection

A network device for use in a network that utilizes provider backbone bridging (PBB) according to IEEE 802.1 ah to create a PBB domain, wherein the network includes a first customer edge (CE) device connected to first and second PBB provider edge (PE) devices such that the first CE device is dual-homed to the first and second PBB PE devices and a second CE device connected to a third PBB PE device, the network device comprising:

• means for creating a backup link between the first and second PBB PE devices, the backup link identifying customer MAC addresses (CMACs) for which unicast Ethernet traffic can be redirected from the first PBB PE device to the second PBB PE device;
• means for detecting a service failure that requires a path change for customer Ethernet traffic to reach the first CE device from the second CE device;
• means for selectively redirecting only unicast Ethernet traffic, which is destined to the first CE device, from the first PBB PE device to the second PBB PE device via the backup link in response to the detected service failure;
• means for preventing multicast Ethernet traffic and broadcast Ethernet traffic from being redirected from the first PBB device to the second PBB PE device;
• and
• means for preventing the second PBB PE device from performing MAC learning on the redirected unicast Ethernet traffic.

A method for operating a network that utilizes provider backbone bridging (PBB) according to IEEE 802.1ah to create a PBB domain, wherein the network includes a first customer edge (CE) device connected to first and second PBB provider edge (PE) devices such that the first CE device is dual-homed to the first and second PBB PE devices and a second CE device connected to a third PBB PE device, the method comprising:

• at the third PBB PE device, learning a CMAC-to-BMAC association that maps a customer MAC (CMAC) from a customer domain to a backbone MAC of the first PBB PE device;
• sending unicast Ethernet traffic from the second CE device to the first CE device via the first PBB PE device according to the CMAC-to-BMAC association;
• detecting a service failure that requires a path change for customer Ethernet traffic to reach the first CE device from the second CE device;
• selectively redirecting only unicast Ethernet traffic, which is destined to the first CE device, from the first PBB PE device to the second PBB PE device via the backup link in response to the detected service failure and preventing multicast Ethernet traffic and broadcast Ethernet traffic from being redirected from the first PBB device to the second PBB PE device;
• at the second PBB PE device, preventing the second PBB PE device from performing MAC learning on the redirected unicast Ethernet traffic;
• at the third PBB PE device, learning a new CMAC-to-BMAC association that maps the CMAC to the BMAC of the second PBB PE device;
• and
• sending unicast Ethernet traffic from the second CE device to the first CE device via the second PBB PE device according to the newly learned CMAC-to-BMAC association.