Patent ID: 7516202
Filing Date: 2009-04-07
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of forcing failover of a network device, the method comprising the steps of: administratively defining at least two interface groups, each interface group being defined via a management system as a logical association of at least two members, wherein said interface groups will not have a state of “down” unless all members administratively defined as being included in the interface group have a state of “down”; administrative assigning, via the management system, the at least two interface groups to a critical interface of the network device, wherein a state of the critical interface will be “up” if all interface groups assigned to the critical interface have a state of “up”, and the state of the critical interface will be “down” if the state of any one of the interface groups assigned to the critical interface have a state of “down”; and forcing a failover of the network device upon a change in state of the critical interface to down, such that a change in state to “down” of any one of the interface groups assigned to the critical interface will force a failover of the network device and, hence, of all other interface groups assigned to the critical interface.