Patent ID: 8108554

Claim:
A network device for routing messages between a plurality of networks, comprising: one or more transceivers receiving and sending network messages; and one or more processors configured to perform actions, including: receiving, from a client device residing on a local network, a message destined for another network device outside of the local network; selecting a gateway device outside of the local network for routing the message based on a selected network characteristic; automatically mapping a source address in the message to an available global address corresponding to the selected gateway device to generate a modified message; forwarding the modified message to the selected gateway, such that the selected gateway is further configured to receive a response to the forwarded modified message; and sharing a network address table with another network device, the network address table including the source address and the global address, such that the shared network address table is useable by the network device or the other network device during a failure of one of the network device or the other network device to process the response to the forwarded modified message.