Patent ID: 8209405

Claim:
A failover system, comprising: a first cluster of nodes to provide a first group of services, nodes of the first cluster of nodes being implemented at least partially in hardware, a node, of the first cluster of nodes, to function as a master for the first cluster of nodes and at least one other node, of the first cluster of nodes, to function as a standby for the first cluster of nodes; and a second cluster of nodes, connected to the first cluster of nodes, to provide a second group of services, nodes of the second cluster of nodes being implemented at least partially in hardware, a node, of the second cluster of nodes, to function as a master for the second cluster of nodes and at least one other node, of the second cluster of nodes, to function as a standby for the second cluster of nodes, the nodes of the first cluster of nodes and the nodes of the second cluster of nodes to exchange information, at least one node of the first cluster of nodes to: process the information received from other nodes of the first cluster of nodes, determine, based on the information received from the nodes of the second cluster of nodes, that the nodes of the second cluster of nodes do not provide the first group of services, and disregard the information received from the nodes of the second cluster of nodes, based on determining that the nodes of the second cluster of nodes do not provide the first group of services, the first group of services and the second group of services being selected from an entire set of services associated with the failover system, the first group of services including a first list of services and the second group of services including a second list of services, the first list of services being exclusive relative to the second list of services, the master for the first cluster of nodes providing the first group of services without providing the second group of services, and the master for the second cluster of nodes providing the second group of services without providing the first group of services.