Patent ID: 8369208

Claim:
A method for providing fault tolerant communications, via a fault tolerant driver, between a first device and a second device, the first device comprising each of: an application coupled to a first protocol driver that is coupled to the fault tolerant driver that is coupled to a first network adapter and to a second protocol driver that is paired with a second network adapter, the method comprising: receiving, by the fault tolerant driver, data from the application via the first protocol driver, the first device coupled to the second device through a first pathway over a first network via the first network adapter, and the first device further coupled to the second device through a second pathway over a second network via the second network adapter, wherein the fault tolerant driver is configured for detecting failed pathways and for routing the data over operational pathways based on the detected failed pathways; checking, by the fault tolerant driver, the first pathway for a failure; if, based on the checking, the first pathway has not failed, then routing the received data, by the fault tolerant driver, through the first pathway via the first network adapter to the second device; and if, based on the checking, the first pathway has failed, then routing, by the fault tolerant driver, the data received from the application via the first protocol driver through the second pathway via the second protocol driver and the second network adapter to the second device, wherein the first protocol driver is separate from the second protocol driver.