Patent ID: 7808982

Claim:
A method of determining the existence of state synchronization between an active and a standby management module operating in a network switch, the switch also including one or more interface and fabric modules, the method, comprising; processing a first type of network traffic stimuli using hardware in the interface and fabric modules; processing a second type of network traffic stimuli, which cannot be handled by the interface and fabric modules, using hardware and software in the management modules; to test synchronization of the management modules, stopping acceptance of the second type of network traffic stimuli to the active management module, and queuing the second type of network traffic stimuli in the one or more interface modules while the active management module is not accepting the second type of network traffic stimuli; completing processing of the second type of network traffic stimuli previously received by the active management module, such that the active management module becomes quiescent while the interface and fabric modules remain active; completing processing of replicated, queued second type of network traffic stimuli to the standby management module, such that the standby module becomes quiescent while the interface and fabric modules remain active; reading state information of the active and the standby management modules; comparing the state information of the active and the standby management modules to determine if their state information is synchronized; and resuming acceptance of the second type of network traffic stimuli to the active management module.