Distributed failure recovery in a routed ethernet network

A node for a data network, the node comprising:

• at least one network interface;
• at least one processor coupled to the at least one network interface;
• and
• at least one memory element storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor, the instructions comprising:
• instructions executable to detect a failure on the data network;
• and
• instructions executable to populate a forwarding table to enable the node, on reception of data traffic forwarded on the data network toward a destination that requires the data traffic to be transmitted across the failure, the data traffic being formatted in protocol data units including a media access control header indicating at least one virtual local area network identifier (VID), to enable the node to replace the VID with a VID assigned by a detour node to an output link connecting the detour node with a node beyond the failure toward the destination and to forward the data traffic toward the detour node on the data network.

A forwarding node for a routed Ethernet network, the node comprising:

• at least one network interface;
• at least one processor coupled to the at least one network interface;
• and
• at least one memory element storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor, the instructions comprising instructions executable to populate a forwarding table to enable the node, on reception of data traffic formatted in protocol data units including a media access control header having at least one virtual local area network identifier (VID) having a value within a range of VID values reserved for distributed failure recovery in the routed Ethernet network, to enable the node to forward the data traffic on the routed Ethernet network based on the VID.