A method and a
system for forwarding
Ethernet packets by an
Ethernet bridge (EB1) in an
Ethernet Layer 2 VPN network; said method being characterized in that it comprises the steps of: by the L2VPN module (VxI) of the ingress LER (ML1), notifying the first Ethernet bridge (EB1) about the primary internal port (4) associated to the receiving MAC-address (MACb) and to the given VLAN identification; by the L2VPN module (VxI) of the ingress LER (ML1), notifying the first Ethernet bridge (EB1) about the
backup internal port (5) directly associated to the
backup MPLS port (5m) which is acting as a
backup MPLS port in an event of failure of the primary MPLS port (4m); by the first Ethernet bridge (EB1), adding to the internal filtering
database the backup internal port (5) to be used in the event of failure of the primary MPLS port (4m) so as to create a combined filtering
database; by the ingress MPLS LER (ML1), notifying the first Ethernet bridge (EB1) about MPLS ports status; by the at least one transmitting CE device (CEa), transmitting Ethernet packets of a given VLAN identification to the receiving MAC-address (MACb) of the at least one receiving CE device (CEb); by the first Ethernet bridge (EB1), before forwarding the transmitted Ethernet packets, checking, when, in the combined filtering
database, the receiving MAC-address (MACb) of the given VLAN is associated to a backup ingress internal port (5), if the corresponding primary MPLS port (4m) directly associated to said primary ingress internal port (4) is failed or not; if the corresponding primary MPLS port (4m) is failed, forwarding Ethernet packets to the backup egress port (5) of the receiving MAC-address (MACb) having the given VLAN identification.