In one aspect, the invention includes, in a root node along a secondary label switching path, a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory medium that when executed by a processor cause the root node to perform the following: establish a first data plane based failure detection session having an inactive status along a first label switching path (LSP) with at least one leaf node, receive a predetermined number of notification messages from the leaf node, wherein the predetermined number of notification messages indicate the failure of a second data plane based failure detection session along a second LSP from a second processor to the leaf node, and change the status of the first data plane based failure detection session to active along the first LSP upon receipt of the predetermined number of notification messages.