Patent ID: 9319222
Filing Date: 2016-04-19
CPC Classification: G06F,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method in a first network device of an inter-chassis redundancy (ICR) system, the ICR system comprising the first network device communicatively coupled to a second network device of the ICR system, the method comprising: in response to determining to transmit an ICR message to the second network device, generating the ICR message by: generating an application header and application data, generating a first authentication digest based on the application header and the application data, wherein the first authentication digest is used by the second network device to perform a first level authentication of the ICR message, generating a second authentication digest based on an Internet Protocol (IP) header and a common header, wherein the second authentication digest is used by the second network device to perform a second level authentication of the ICR message, and including the first authentication digest and the second authentication digest in the ICR message; transmitting the ICR message that includes the first authentication digest, the second authentication digest, the application header, and the application data to the second network device; performing, by the second network device, the first level authentication by generating a third authentication digest and comparing the third authentication digest against the first authentication digest received in the ICR message; and if the first level authentication is successful, performing, by the second network device, the second level authentication by generating a fourth authentication digest and comparing the fourth authentication digest against the second authentication digest received in the ICR message.