A method for fast protection in a fault-tolerant network includes coupling an
edge
switch in a network to one or more access switches via at least first and second
redundant links, respectively connected to first and second ports of the edge switch.
The first port is placed in an active state, while the second port is placed in
a blocking state, so that communication traffic is conveyed over the first link,
and each of the switches builds a respective database for use in forwarding the
traffic. Responsive to a failure associated with the first link, the second port
is placed in the active state and the first port is placed in the blocking state.
Dummy traffic is then sent from the edge switch over the second link to the one
or more access switches, so as to cause each of the one or more access switches
to modify its respective database responsive to the second port being in the active state.
