A protocol identifies and configures rings in a network topology automatically in order to simplify and quicken the actions that need to be performed in response to addition, deletion and shuffle of network nodes in that topology. Such rings do not need to be identified and configured manually. The protocol involves two separate sequentially performed phases. In the first phase, the protocol can automatically identify all rings that are present within a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) topology. In the second phase, the protocol can automatically configure each node of each such ring in conformity with the Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP) protocol. After this ERP configuration has been performed, the failure of a link within the network will not require every network node to re-learn paths through the network; instead, the nodes that are required to re-learn such paths can be limited to those within the particular ring that contained the failed link.