Patent attributes
In general, techniques are provided for receiving a first control plane message that indicates the reachability of the second PE network device as a designated forwarder in an Ethernet segment. The techniques include receiving a second control plane message comprising information that indicates, in the event of a network failure at the second PE router, that the third PE network device of the plurality of PE network devices is the designated forwarder in the layer two segment. The techniques also include forwarding layer two frames to the second PE network device identified as the designated forwarder in the layer two segment; and responsive to determining a network failure at the second PE network device, configuring, based at least in part on the second control plane message, a forwarding plane of the first PE network device to forward layer two frames to the third PE network device as the designated forwarder.