Patent ID: 8127003

Claim:
A method of operating a first subnet manager in a subnet of an Infiniband network, wherein administration of the Infiniband network is performed by the first subnet manager acting as a master subnet manager, the method comprising: discovering, by the first subnet manager, a new network component added to the subnet; if a second subnet manager, different from the first subnet manager, is running on the new network component, evaluating which one of the first or second subnet managers has a lower hierarchy level; and determining whether the second subnet manager is from the same subnet manager vendor as the first subnet manager; if the second subnet manager has a higher hierarchy level and is from the same subnet manager vendor as the first subnet manager, the first subnet manager sending a message to a third subnet manager which is previously set by the first subnet manager to a not-active state, thereby commanding the third subnet manager to go to a standby state; if the second subnet manager has a higher hierarchy level but is not from the same subnet manager vendor, permitting the first subnet manager with the lower hierarchy level to maintain its master subnet manager state in the subnet, and sending a disable message to the second subnet manager, thereby setting the second subnet manager to a not-active state.