MESSAGE PASSING TO ASSURE DELETION OF LABEL SWITCHED PATH

摘要

A label switched path through a network of nodes, is torn down by sending a message along the path from an ingress node. If there is a fault along the path, a path error message (2) is sent back along the path to the ingress node. The ingress node uses a different route bypassing the fault to alert (3) a further one of the nodes (NE5, NE6) on that path beyond the indicated fault, to cause that further node to continue the tearing down for other nodes on that path beyond the indicated fault by sending a further message (4) along the portion of the path beyond the indicated fault, to indicate to the other nodes to continue the tear down. This enables the ingress node to clean up the rest of the path beyond the fault, to avoid leaving unused capacity unavailable for reuse, and to avoid time consuming manual clean up.