Patent ID: 9736016
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: configuring, by one or more computing systems of a configurable network service that provides a virtual computer network, initial mapping information to use for forwarding communications for the virtual computer network, wherein the initial mapping information indicates that a first computing node of the virtual computer network is an intermediate destination for at least some communications sent during operation of the virtual computer network, and wherein the configuring includes configuring a manager that is associated with a second computing node of the virtual computer network to use the initial mapping information to manage communications sent by the second computing node; receiving, by the configured manager, information regarding a first communication that is from the second computing node and to an intended final destination distinct from the first computing node; determining, by the configured manager and based on the initial mapping information having an association of the intended final destination to the first computing node, to forward the first communication to the first computing node as an intermediate destination; initiating, by the configured manager, forwarding the first communication to the first computing node; updating, by the one or more computing systems while the operation of the virtual computer network is ongoing, and based on the first computing node becoming unavailable to act as the intermediate destination after the forwarding of the first communication, the initial mapping information to implement a failure behavior that is specified to be used when the first computing node becomes unavailable; and managing, by the one or more computing systems and during further operation of the virtual computer network, a second sent communication for the virtual computer network by using the updated mapping information to determine a manner of handling the second sent communication based on unavailability of the first computing node.