Patent ID: 7039828
Filing Date: 2006-05-02
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for a first file server to provide file service operations normally performed by a second file server after the second file server suffers an error condition, the first and second file servers operatively interconnected with a set of clients using a network protocol, the network protocol being free of support for moving a transport address from the second file server to the first file server, the method comprising the steps of: detecting, by the first file server, that the second file server has suffered an error condition; asserting ownership, by the first file server, of a set of storage devices normally owned by the second file server; activating, on the first file server, a secondary data access port for receiving connections over a network; and processing, by the first file server, file service operations directed to the secondary data access port from a set of failover clients, the failover clients accessing the first file server by computing a network address associated with the first file server from a first symbolic name, the first symbolic name generated by the failover client from a second symbolic name associated with the second file server, whereby failover operation is achieved by the client.