1. A method for providing protection in a communications network including a plurality of nodes coupled by communication links, comprising: responsive to a connection request received by an ingress node, computing a working path between said ingress node and an egress node; computing a plurality of backup paths between said ingress and egress nodes, each of said backup paths being activatable upon a failure condition associated with at least one of said working path and one of said backup paths; and transmitting messages to nodes spanning said working path and backup paths for setting up said working path and backup paths.