Patent ID: 7583590

Claim:
A method in a first router in an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network for migrating routing protocol processes from a properly functioning first route processor to a second route processor, wherein the first router includes a forwarding engine for forwarding packets to neighbor routers in the network, and the neighbor routers include a graceful restart procedure for maintaining packet flow to the first router and assisting the first router if the first router fails, said method comprising: terminating the routing protocol processes on the properly functioning first route processor, thereby stopping the first route processor from responding to messages from the neighbor routers and thereby providing a false indication to the neighbor routers that the first router has failed, wherein, in response to detecting the false failure, the neighbor routers start the graceful restart procedure; restarting the routing protocol processes on the second route processor; diverting by the forwarding engine, packets destined for the routing protocol processes on the first route processor to the restarted routing protocol processes on the second route processor; and receiving by the restarted routing protocol processes on the second route processor, information from the neighbor routers regarding the network's topology as part of the graceful restart procedure.