A system monitors metrics relating to link flapping associated with a physical link in a ring network. Network management traffic is transported via a first VLAN and customer data traffic is transported via a second VLAN. The system maintains a signal fail state for the ring network based on the monitored metrics. If a first condition associated with the first VLAN is detected, the system disallows customer data traffic on the second VLAN. If a second condition associated with the monitored metrics is detected, the system disallows network management traffic on the first VLAN and disallows customer data traffic on the second VLAN, resulting in the signal fail state. If the second condition is no longer met, the system allows network management traffic on the first VLAN. If the first condition is no longer met, the system allows customer data traffic on the second VLAN, resulting in the idle state.