Patent ID: 7581048

Claim:
In a computer system having a plurality of computers, each connected to a storage system, each of said storage systems in communication via an alternate path, each computer having software capable of sending and receiving network information between said computers via a primary network, a method comprising the steps of: receiving transmission packets containing said network information of the primary network including a heartbeat datagram into an internal thread of the primary network and placing the transmission packets into a queue determined by the type of transmission packet; upon determination of the unavailability of the primary network, in conjunction with a determination that the storage systems are still available, and the determination that the transmission packet is a write packet, automatically choosing said alternate path and copying the transmission packets into a buffer; upon filling the buffer to a predetermined point, waking the internal thread to process the filled buffer, wherein the internal thread writes the contents of the buffer to the storage system and enables transmission of the stored write packets including the heartbeat datagram via said alternate path, said alternate path being implemented as a virtual network interface process which can be shutdown upon receipt of a shutdown request, wherein said stored write packets containing said network information are transmitted in a protocol suitable for said alternate path enabling continuous availability of the network information without use of the primary network between respective ones of the computers.