Patent ID: 7373545

Claim:
A method of operating a fault-tolerant computer system, the method comprising: having each server of a fault tolerant computer system that includes at least a first server, a first link between the first server and a network, a second server, and a second link between the second server and the network, with each of the first and second servers being configured to perform a first set of operations and to communicate with a computer that does not perform the first set of operations through the network, and in the event of a failure of the first server, the second server, the first link or the second link, determining which of the first and second servers will continue to perform the first set of operations by: if the first server and the second server are able to communicate with one another over the first link and the second link, having the first server and second server communicate to determine which of the first and second servers will continue to perform the first set of operations, and if the first server and the second server are not able to communicate with one another over the first link and the second link, having the computer that does not perform the first set of operations communicate with the first and second servers to determine which of the first and second servers will continue to perform the first set of operations.