Methods and systems for neighbor-acknowledged graceful insertion/removal protocol

Presented herein are systems, and methods thereof, that is configured to enter a maintenance mode to isolate itself from its neighbor and to gracefully cause neighbor devices to isolate themselves from the system, as to cause minimal or "zero" service disruption with its neighbors. The system broadcasts a maintenance-related message, via a standard transport layer, over routing protocols, to counter parts protocols at the neighbor device and waits for an acknowledgement message from the neighbor network devices. The broadcast and acknowledgement, through standard transport layer messaging, ensures that traffic generated by such protocols at the neighbor devices, regardless of manufacturer, are redirected before the system fully enters into the maintenance mode.