Patent ID: 6148410
Filing Date: 2000-11-14
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A fault tolerant recoverable transport connection protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection device to provide a connection between clients and one or more servers in a computer network, said TCP/IP connection device comprising at least two TCP/IP routers connected between said clients and said one or more servers, wherein when a first TCP/IP router of said at least two TCP/IP routers is in an active state to provide said connection between said clients and said one or more servers, then a second TCP/IP router of said at least two TCP/IP routers is in a standby state and capable of providing connection between said clients and said servers with same or different connectivity than said first TCP/IP router;each of said at least two TCP/IP routers including:a synchronization manager that synchronizes internal tables of said at least two TCP/IP routers;a monitoring manager that monitors a state of said at least two TCP/IP routers; upon detecting a failure of said first TCP/IP router, said monitoring manager switching said second TCP/IP router from said standby state to said active state to maintain said connection, and switching said first TCP/IP router from said active state to said standby state; and,a reach-ability manager which compares a TCP/IP router reach-ability state of each of said at least two TCP/IP routers with a required reach-ability set comprising a set of hosts or subnets to which connections are to be maintained, and which instructs said monitoring manager to switch states of said at least two TCP/IP routers when said second TCP/IP router is in the standby state and has a reach-ability state that includes said required reach-ability set and is better than said reach-ability set of said active TCP/IP router, whereby TCP/IP connectivity is maintained between said clients and said servers regardless of said connectivity configuration.