Ten gigabit Ethernet port protection systems and methods

A network, comprising:

• a plurality of interconnected layer two network elements forwarding packets therebetween;
• an Ethernet local area network service on the plurality of interconnected layer two network elements;
• and
• a protected pair of ports comprising a working facility and a protection facility, wherein the protected pair of ports providing the Ethernet local area network service to subtending equipment, wherein the protection facility continuously transmits a condition remote fault to subtending equipment in the absence of any fault on the protection facility while the working facility is operating normally such that the protection facility is provisioned, ready to switch to active, and no silent failures occur;
• wherein ITU Y.1731 Continuity Check Messages are exchanged between the plurality of layer two network elements and the subtending equipment to detect a fault on the working port, and upon detection of the fault, the protection facility removes the condition Remote Fault and, responsive to a condition comprising RF or Laser Off, G.8032 Ring—Automatic Protection Switching messages are exchanged between the plurality of network elements and the subtending equipment to require a flush of forwarding databases such that traffic is relearned on the protection facility;
• and
• wherein, responsive to detecting the fault, ITU Y.1731 Alarm Indication Signal frames are transmitted between the plurality of network elements, the conditioning from the protection facility is removed thereby using the protection facility as active, the working facility is conditioned thereby using the working facility as standby, forwarding databases on the plurality of network elements are flushed to relearn, media access control forwarding is reestablished over the protection facility, and the ITU Y.1731 Alarm Indication Signal frames are periodically retransmitted between the plurality of network elements while the fault remains.

A method, comprising:

• provisioning a working facility for a layer two service between a first set of equipment and a second set of equipment;
• provisioning a protection facility for the layer two service between the first set of equipment and the second set of equipment;
• forwarding traffic over the working facility;
• continuously transmitting a condition remote fault over the protection facility in the absence of any fault on the protection facility while the working facility is operating normally such that the protection facility is provisioned, ready to switch to active, and no silent failures occur;
• utilizing ITU Y.1731 Continuity Check Messages to detect a fault;
• responsive to detecting the fault and responsive to a condition comprising RF or Laser Off, removing the condition (Remote Fault) from the protection facility and transmitting a condition (Remote Fault) to the working facility;
• responsive to detecting the fault and responsive to the condition comprising RF or Laser Off, transmitting a G.8032 Ring—Automatic Protection Switching message to require a flush of forwarding databases such that traffic is relearned on the protection facility;
• and
• responsive to detecting the fault, transmitting ITU Y.1731 Alarm Indication Signal frames between the plurality of network elements, removing the conditioning from the protection facility thereby using the protection facility as active, conditioning the working facility thereby using the working facility as standby, flushing forwarding databases on the plurality of network elements to relearn, reestablishing media access control forwarding over the protection facility, and periodically retransmitting the ITU Y.1731 Alarm Indication Signal frames between the plurality of network elements while the fault remains.